Old Art, New Ink
by artist-pad
Summary: What happened if a human was preserved into the world of splatoon and then changed to become an inkling? Well, about to find out in this story. Leave a review if you like it. Any feedback is appreciated. Update: Thank you all for riding along on this story. Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
1. Chapter 1

Entry 56891

Day 4381150

Status report: Main power has terminated over 60 days ago. Battery power running is less than an hour.

Life Pod 275 still fully functioning. Survival chest failed to survive to this point

Outside conditions unfavorable to human life. Cephalopods seem to have become the new occupants and sentient race. Appears they have developed weapons to spread their ink around at times contesting pieces of lands with four on four combatants. Was able to extract some ink from one of their conflicts near this cell.

Remarkably the ink contains genetic code. Code that could be reworked and injected into Life Pod 275. Chances for mutation are 95%. Successful mutation 80.5%

Last resort with batteries failing to save Life Pod 275. Mutate occupant and in a hope, the occupant can survive.

Once Genetic transfer is done, all power will re-route to awakening sequence and chamber unlock. However, power will destroy Oracle in the process.

Genetic transfer begin... 10%

30%

Detection of cephalopods outside chamber... 40%

50%

Priming systems for awakening sequence... 60%

It seems the cephalopods are ending their land dispute... 80%

Should give the occupant time to recover from the transformation... 90%

100% Genetic Transfer complete. Awakening sequence started

Final notes: I'm sorry. I wished I could do more.

Oracle out

The program had started inside a small room, no bigger than a typical college dorm. A pod looking machine was hooked up to a series of hoses and wires. A glass cover covered in dust for the years it had been undisturbed. A change was occurring as the individual inside was morphing. Changing, at this point in time humanity had gone extinct. This pod was supposed to be a part of many others as a sort of living ark. However, time told a different story only leaving one pod and the AI Oracle to watch over it. Now on the last day, the power would fail for both, the pod would start to open. Instead of the normal air, the ink had formed inside the pod from the genetic transfer. The AI decided it is best to mutate the occupant in hopes to ensure a better survival of the user. However, success can't be measured here. The 5-foot tall person hits the floor just as the vault-like door started to open. The individual fell down onto their hands and knees coughing up ink as their transformation was complete. But full sensory and motor control had yet to kick in. Being in stasis this long can have a hard effect on someone. Though the door did not open completely, enough for the person to get out. Something seemed to be blocking it. As the person was slumped over, they could feel the pull of gravity not towards the floor, but towards the door. As if they were on an incline. As the person tries to move, the ink from the pod caused them to slip and began to slide right out the door. Into the bright sunlight and the world they had never seen before.

The whistle was blown as another turf war was finished for this particular map. Seems ever since the great zapfish was returned, turf wars were much more numerous and inklings were getting into all sorts of places. This particular spot was found when a bit of land slid off a cliff side but revealed quite a bit of an old facility as well. The facility was studied a bit by archeologist that determined it was roughly 12,000 years old, it looked to be some sort of lab. Though when the team was done, the archeologist decided to let some turf wars occur just so that on the off chance anything was to turn up, they could possibly be turned up during the turf wars.

The Blue team had just won this match up as a female inkling was in the back of the map in a hard to reach the spot. But she got up there with her Carbon roller weapon as she was dressed in a white tank top with a shop logo on it, a pair of shorts and a hoodie tied around her waist. She had her tentacles down and was blue colored.

"Alright we won!" she sounded happy standing around 4'8' as she heard it over her ear piece her team won the match. "Come on back Bianca, we got some celebrating to do" a male voice went over her ear piece.

"Gottcha be over in a Gippy!" she exclaimed and before she could jump back into the ink as a squid something clanged open not far from her location. She paused as she looked over, "Huh? What was that?" she went over to investigate on foot. A part of the facility was still in the earth, but there seemed to be a door opened, like a vault with green ink coming out of it.

"What the shell is this?" asking aloud as she moves around and sees someone crawling out from in under the opening. The guy was at least 5ft tall dressed in a t-shirt with paint spots on it, a brown cloth coat, tan brown cargo pants and a black hat on his head. An earth green messenger bag was slung across himself as he was coughing. His clothes were covered in ink spots as his 'hair' was let down. To her, he looked like a normal inkling guy though with his tentacles down. To him, he felt weird and not in a good way. His skin was white like hers, his tentacle hair was green but his eyes appeared ocean blue. An unusual trait if not unheard of, most inkling's color matched their eyes. Why were this one's eyes different?

"Hey! Kid! You with the hat!" Bianca called out as the boy was slow to react as he heard the sound and looked up towards where she was. Was a good 40 feet from him as he was trying to stand and soon slumped back over after trying to take a step.

"Whoa! Hey, slow down. Geez, you don't look so good" she rushed in as she tries to help him up. "Where's your splatter gun? Ink tank? You're not part of the other team, so why you out here on a turf war?" quizzing the guy right at the get go.

"My... what and what? What the... Where am I? This doesn't look like the labs" his voice was slow as his arm moved naturally around hers as she helped stabilize him.

"What are you talking about? You're on Shell mountain, what rock you been under?" she asked confused as can be. Who the heck was this guy?  
"Shell mountain? Where the heck is that?" his opposite hand moved to rub his forehead as it was throbbing.

"Come on, let me get ya back to the spawn area. We'll try working it out there" as she spoke her earpiece went off again.

"Bianca, Where are ya? The Judd is still waiting for ya to get back here, what's taking ya so long?" the male voice spoke in the earpiece as she sighed, her roller on her back as she helped the boy along.

"It's hard to explain Jack, but let's just say I found someone. I'm gonna need a little hand, he's heavy" she commented as Jack sounded a bit unsure.

"A person? No way, there should have been only eight players out here, not nine. What the shell? You jerkin my tentacle here?" Jack remarked as Bianca got snappy.

"Hey! You've known me for at least two years, do you think I would be lying to ya if something happened? Just take my reward earnings and we'll work it out when I'm back" Bianca shouted back as the boy was slowly gaining better control and his eyesight was improving.

"...You're... Bianca then?" the boy asked as he looked over to her. He finally got a better look at her face as he looked surprised. Originally he thought she was some sort of human, but it was obvious had something off about her. Tentacles for hair?

"Yeah that's my name, hey what's with that look?" she questioned him noticing that weird outlook.

"What the heck are you? I've never seen anything like ya before" he commented as she rolled her eyes.

"What are you talking about? Haven't you looked in the mirror you squid. Who do you think you are?" she asked a bit annoyed about his remark.

"I'm Arthur Sketchpad and I'm a human, what are you talking about?" he asked her confused dropping his name down at the same time. Bianca looked at him with a face of confusion.

"Seriously? Geez look at yourself" she pulled her phone out in frustration, it was in the shape of a squid body as she puts the camera facing the screen on and turned it so he could see himself. Arthur stopped in his tracks as he grabbed the phone looking at himself. He looked just like an inkling guy, though his 'hair' was down and not in a ponytail. His mouth was hanging open as he looked at himself while touching his face.

"This, This can't be real" his voice sounded weak as his face was turning pale as he felt his teeth noticing his teeth were oddly shaped. Feeling them he realized that yes it was true. He gave a delusional laugh as his eyes went crossed and drop to the ground. Hitting his head hard on the ground. Thankfully not enough to do serious damage, but he'll feel it.

"Whoa! Geez kid!" she shouted as she tried catching him and finding him unconscious.

"Bianca! Where are ya?" Jake asked over the earpiece as she groaned.

"I'm in the back of the map, the kid fainted and gonna need a hand here" she groaned with a sigh. Jake was not all too happy either hearing this as well.

It was a bit awkward for Bianca to explain to her team about this new kid she found. No idea how he got here and most of her team sounded skeptical. Jake was willing to believe a part of it. It was, even more, a challenge when she brought the kid home along with the help of Jake so they could put him somewhere rather than at their little hideout. Her mother was curious about the boy after hearing her daughter's tale. Standing at 5'6' she was slim but not that much else to describe her. She had a beauty mark at the corner of her lip and her two big tentacles she kept in a braid that went over her left shoulder over her breast. She was at least glad her little inkling had done good in another turf war and treated the team well with a little party to celebrate in the three bedroom condo they lived in. Arthur was placed into the spare room used as a guest room mostly to let him rest. It was not until a bit later after the team had split for the day having finished partying that Arthur would start to wake up. The room he was in had a small window next to the bed closest to his head facing towards the door which was towards his feet. The single size bed was up against the wall with a small desk with a chair and some shelves and a dresser. A closet was on the wall just past the end of the bed facing into the room. His jacket, scarf, messenger bag, and hat were off him. The jacket and scarf slung over the chair while the bag was in the chair and his hat was sitting on a night stand. There were also several posters strung across the room, looked to be ads for different events as Arthur woke up.

"Mmmm where am I now?" he asked himself sounding groggy as he winces feeling his head pounding, "Damn did I faint? Geez, that hurt" as he spoke he felt his head and could feel the tentacles. He gave a soft sigh right this was a new thing for him now. This room looked so modern it scared him a bit. Had he really been gone that long? He slowly got up walking to the window as the blinds were closed to it dimming the lights a bit to help him rest. He opened them to look outside. He could see Inkopolis from where he was at, it was all urban and modernized to him. Inklings were walking down the street and a few cars were going down the road too. It felt as though it was yesterday that he went to sleep back in his time and now he was seeing the same thing except they were... well something else. He was unsure what he was, but could deduce it was possibly squid after seeing he had two larger tentacles on his head with suckers. Though, the tentacles were not as long as women had so one way to distinguish sex. He heard some chattering coming from another room, seems they at least kept the door ajar. He was walking fine though was keeping quite, he realized by now that his shoes were gone as well. He opened the door and looked to his left, seems to dead end at a bathroom to one side of the hall and another bedroom on the other. Had some more posters on the closed door, may have been a teenage squid's room. A bit more chatter came from his right as he turned to see into the living room. There was another closed door on his left side, another bedroom perhaps? He didn't know nor was gonna snoop. Making his way down the short hallway he walked right into the kitchen on his right, living room in front of him just beyond the breakfast bar, and a sliding glass door that went to a balcony. A table was set not far in front of the balcony window as he looked around. Seems the mother and daughter were doing dishes as he watched. The mother would turn for a moment as she was washing dishes, the daughter drying as she looked surprised.

"Oh my, already awake I'm surprised" the mother spoke dressed in a simple dress as her daughter looked over.

"Well look who's walkin again. What the heck happened, did you become light headed or something?" Bianca asked as Arthur was rubbing his head.

"I suppose I did. I take it this is your... mother?" he asked as Bianca's mother smiled.

"The name is Grace" she introduced herself with a smile washing the last dish before letting her daughter dry it. "Bianca's told me a bit about how you two met, I must say it's kinda unusual I must agree".

Arthur's heart sank a bit for whatever reason as he rubbed the back of his head, "I... suppose I was a bit delusional when I met Bianca but I do thank you two for letting me in for a little bit" he offered a small smile as a thank you.

"Well, she told me your name is Arthur and from what she was describing I think I can agree with your story," Grace said as he looked perplexed back at her. "Let me explain, I work as an archeologist. Normally my work is in ancient civilizations or generally language, how our writing evolved over the years. Though about a month ago, the team had brought in samples from a site they found on Shell Mountain. Looked to be a sort of lab or something" as she commented Arthur seemed a tad surprised but also a bit of worry.

"Needless to say the dig site brought up several findings. Determined the place was inactive and was being used as some sort of refuge for humans. Lots of tech being used but now all dead. Figured the place would be dead, til you showed up" Grace started to let the dishwater and rinse water down as she turned her attention to Arthur.

"The team and I were able to deduce the place was using some sort of deep sleep or something to freeze you guys to keep for a longer period of time. Possibly due to the climate changing and rising sea levels best we can guess. However, I can't really explain why you are an inkling now" she commented as Arthur was piecing it together slowly and coming to grasp that he was a lone survivor.

"So the lab was severally damaged over the years" Arthur was thinking as he leans against the counter top. Bianca was watching him as she finished drying dishes.

"Yeah, the way ya saw it earlier was how it's been for possibly who knows how long," she remarked as Grace corrected.

"To be honest, estimations go to 12,000 years in the past. A huge jump for a single survivor I must say, the culture shock must be a huge issue" Grace added crossing her arms across her chest observing him.

"Yeah no kidding, wake up one day to a human next to ya. The next, I'm waking up next to a squid and I am a squid. Damn Oracle" he muttered the last part as Graced raised an eyebrow.

"Oracle? Who is that?" she asked as Bianca was now just listening.

"Oracle, it was an AI designed by a collaboration of scientist for the maintenance of five hundred humans in stasis. The Artificial Intelligence was built to work in low energy environments leaving the pods being the only main drain of power. This was part of an Ark project, a ditch effort to trying to save humanity or at least give something that could be built on" he went on as he was remembering it like it was the other day. "I was one of the randomly selected to be placed into a pod. Was brought up with what the project was, I did hear that the AI was built to ensure all occupants would survive if at all possible. I also heard a rumor it could do genetic manipulation as well. I suppose it figured me being an inkling would improve my chances of survival. But for 12,000 years my word..." his voice drifted off as he sighed. His mind was drifting off and it was evident that the mark of time was shown. No one survived that ark but him. So he was indeed the last human alive, well mentally a human.

Grace gave a soft sigh as she dried her hands off and walked over to Arthur giving him a hug, "I can't imagine what you're mind is going through right now. As a professional, I would want to ask a million questions about human society, but I also feel you need some distance from that past to let you make your own". He was surprised by the hug though naturally, he hugged her right back with a soft sigh.

"Yeah, I suppose. Though I stick out like the biggest sore thumb right now" he commented pulling from the hug.

"No kidding. Kids like us we do turf wars right and left outside of school and you're one without an ink tank, any weapons, any fresh clothes" Bianca started to riddle off a list of things as Grace snapped her fingers.

"Bianca, show a few manners. He's not quite used to this and needs to be brought up to speed slowly, not rushed. Like you keep rushing at the start of a turf war" Grace smiled a bit at the last part as her daughter huffed folding her arms with a heavy sigh of frustration.

Arthur was observing the two and sighed looking at the time. Oddly enough that genetic modification made it easier for him to read what stuff said like the time, "I think it's also getting late too. This has been one heck of a giant wave of new stuff for me. Should probably take it easy" he added as Grace agreed.

"Yes, I agree, oh I did leave you a little something in the oven in case you're hungry. Was unsure what you liked to eat but figured I would save ya what Bianca and her friends had" she smiled as she yawned. "I need to get some laundry done so do enjoy" with that Grace walked off down the hall to get the laundry done.

"Well thank you Grace" he smiled as he walked over to the oven finding it was set to warm turned the oven off and took an oven mitten to pull the plate out. Looked like fried fish. Well, he used to be a vegetarian. Guess that was out of the window now, getting some utensils he would get some water in a glass and walk to the breakfast bar to start chowing down. Last he remembered was to eat slow, what he was told before going into stasis is the body may not wake up fast enough so trying to take it slow would help get the body going again. Like not having food not being digested in the stomach immediately. Bianca watched him as she looked down the hall seeing her mother was not coming down anytime soon. She would walk over to sit next to him.

"Hey, I know she wants to keep it slow with ya, but I don't want ya stuck in here and turned into some baby squid. Tomorrow I'm sneaking ya out and we're getting stuff for ya" she proposed as she pulled out a cell phone handing it to him.

He raised an eyebrow looking at the cellphone which had a triangle shape at the very top to make it look like a squid, "I don't know how your mother would like that. But same time I get what you mean too".

"Trust me, she'll try to baby you if you let her. Though she may end up trying to talk about you about humans and what not. Trust me, don't get her started on some of her wild theories on humans" Bianca said with a groan. "Just be up early in the morning, say five in the morning. She normally wakes up at six to get ready for work. Leave your door closed when ya leave and follow my lead okay?" she told him as Arthur nods.

"Alright, hopefully, this isn't a mistake" he sighed a bit. Bianca just places a hand on his shoulder flashing him a smile.

"It'll be fun. Plus no better way to get ya introduced to this world than to just stroll through Inkopolis" she remarked. She also took the time to explain to him that the phone had hers and her mother's number in it. It was a spare her mother kept in case her business traveling husband came home with a missing phone. At least someone had a plan or two.

Some time passed as Arthur was taking a shower just to clean himself up. Sure he had been in stasis for quite some time, and technically he was as clean as he was when he went in. Though the force of habit, at least shower once a day if you can. It still boggled his mind how much had changed since he was asleep. He remembered panic among people, humans desperately trying to find their way through the world, not to mention the riots when people were being selected for the ark programs. It had appeared the program he was in was the only one that survived. He had no idea where to look to find the others and a higher doubt that they were active. He sighed getting out of the shower, drying off, and dressing in his pants and a shirt, same ones from the pod that was still 'clean'. Soon after he closed his bedroom door setting an alarm to go off at 4:50 am on his phone as he lays in bed. After all, those facilities were only supposed to run for a hundred years.

The dreams he had were a bit haunting as he was seeing humanity drowning in the water they had brought. Cities crumbling while the land shifted violently as the world was shifting. With him in the dream was a young girl with short brown hair and green eyes. She looked a bit like Arthur as a human before he changed. Both were traversing a skyscraper having found a refugee high enough above the water they would not drown. Though as Arthur jumped a gap, standing on the other side to catch his sister the building started to split. The little girl took a jump, unstable as she was falling short. He tried to grab her, catch her hand. Save her life. But a car came zooming by with a mad man screaming and hollering as it slammed right into the girl making her disappear into a cloud of red. That red dropped down into the rising water, and the soon gray ocean turned to crimson red. His heart sank coughing as he could see the red on his hand. Trying to steady himself, he fell from the tower dropping towards the water. Though just before he hit the water's surface a massive fish came from the water and swallowed him whole.

The alarm clock on his phone sounded as he lurched upward panting from the nightmare. It took him a few moments to regain himself before turning the phone off. He rubbed his eyes and temples groaning. Why. Why was he like this? He had the nightmare of the little girl died at least once a month. But seems it came back to haunt him as soon as he woke back up and returned to a sleep cycle. He gave a sigh as he got out of bed and got his jacket on along with socks. He figured his shoes were out by the door as he found them last night. He would get his jacket on, hat and bring his scarf along just slinging it over his shoulders and around his neck. Taking his phone, he would pocket it as he heads for his door. Being quiet he would open the door slowly and creep out. He would close the door as he turned he nearly yelped when he saw a silhouette of a person in front of him.

"Shh!" the figure said covering his mouth with a hand as it looked behind it. "Don't want to wake mom up. Come on, let's get our shoes on and head out quietly" it was Bianca, seems she had been awake a bit sooner as she uncovers his mouth. A simple nod from him was enough as he walked over getting his shoes on and then heading out of the home while Bianca locked the door. In the dark of the home he had no idea what she wore, but in a bit of light, he could see she was wearing a blue tank top with a light weight jacket over a top that was green. She wore shorts that went down to her knees that were light brown.

"Alright, that was the hard part. Easy Street is here, we'll grab a little something at the tram station. We live a few blocks away from where I want to be. We just live outside of Inkopolis, but with how the city has grown it's still huge" she comments walking down some stairs as Arthur follows her close.

"Yes about that. What's so special about Inkopolis?" Arthur asked as she nearly stopped to grill him on it but refrained making more of a sigh as they went down.

"It's the city to be in for inklings, turf wars are organized through there as well as the trendy of the trends start there. If you can make it anywhere in the turf wars when competition season starts, you'll make it pretty good" she replied getting to the bottom floor and heading out a set of doors. There was a sidewalk that went out and then a road beyond it that went out to a countryside. "This way. I know a good place to grab something quick to munch on" she also added keeping next to Arthur.

"I see, so if you can make it here you can make it anywhere? Well, I hope you're right" he told her with a smile walking along beside her. The thing burned in his head on why she's helping him, it felt weird, to be honest. The two walked a little ways and hit a small food stop where they got something to munch on. It was a relief that he could at least have some fish and a rice ball was nice to munch on. Though it was quite funny watching Bianca realizing her account had increased in funds suddenly, seemed her mother had sent her some money to help her daughter out figuring what she was doing.

Both would continue walking down to the tram station where Bianca used a pass to get through while buying Arthur a ticket to get onto the tram. Both would sit next to each other on the early morning train as he sighed looking out the window for a moment and then back to her.

"So what's the plan for today? I assume you have some idea what you're doing" he asked as she smiled.

"Well for starters, we gotta get ya looking much fresher. I'll admit the stuff ya have one is rather unique. But I think we can make ya looking fresher" she said with a bit of a twinkle in her eyes.

"If you're suggesting I let you pick out what I should wear I'm not doing that. I'll take your advice and consider it. Though how others dress is based solely on preference" he remarked not wanting this to be a dress up Arthur game or simulation.

"Aww come on, at least let me pick one thing out at least" she seemed to plea as he groaned.

"Deal, I'll give ya that" he added as he listens to her more.

"Thanks, you're already such a bud ya know? Well, probably wanna drop by the Ammo Knights shop at the Booyah Bay to get ya a tank and a weapon" as she said those names Arthur couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Now what's so darn funny there?"

"Booyah Bay? Seriously? The name itself sounds funny, better than calling a sports store after yourself, but also has the slang for other body parts" he rolled his eyes as he shakes his head. "But okay, figured that won't take long to find something" he added now it was Bianca's turn to giggle.

"Oh no no, we're not making this a quick in and out trip mister. You're gonna experience Inkopolis the only way I know… And hey look where we're getting close to the Plaza" she smiled looking out of the window as the sun was starting to come up. Arthur turned his gaze back to the window as he could see what was being illuminated. The lights of the Inkopolis plaza were starting to dim down as he noticed the tower obviously and the giant… What is that?

"Hey Bianca, where is there a giant eel wrapped around that tower?" he asked a bit confused if not a tad worried about the fact there was this massive animal in the middle of a metro city.

"The Great Zapfish? Oh, guess you've never seen one. See a bit of the power we run on comes from tapping into Zapfish, electric little fishes that produce the power we need to do pretty much everything. I've heard other places use other means like running giant wind turbines or some are trying to tap ocean currents for power. But here, we have that big guy. The Great Zapfish produces all the power for Inkopolis and where we're going is around the base of that tower" she added as she started to think a bit.

"Really? Huh, seems you guys have found lots of alternative ways to producing energy. Maybe cleaner I hope, better than burning stuff" he said as he gave a light yawn.

"Oh right, need to show ya this quick" she pulled up something on her phone with two female inklings on it, both looked to be in dresses with white gloves, both white skinned. Both also seemed to sport some sort of tight fitting leggings, looked a bit like yoga pants What set them apart was their colors. One had two long tentacles normal for an inkling gal though hers were black with purple accents on the suckers and her outfit was black with pink accents. While the leggings were pink. The other had short gray or white tentacles while her outfit was black as well she had green accents. Though a closer inspection that this one had the same length tentacles as the other, but seemed to have them tied back somehow. Her leggings were green as well. Both had some sort of head wear that one reminded him of sushi the other a hat.

"Who are these two?" he asked as Bianca would answer.

"These are the Squid Sisters, they're really big pop stars. Callie is the one with the pink, Marie is the one with the green. They have a studio up in the plaza so there's a good chance you'll see them. Just wanted to let ya know this before ya see them on the big screen and go who are they. They cover the local news and turf wars when the competitive season starts which is not for another month" she filled him in as he nods.

"Yeah about turf wars… Darn looks like we're here already" he commented as the noticed the train was stopping.

"I'll fill ya in later on that. First thing's first, clothes" she told him as both were getting off the train. They would walk a little ways as they reached the Plaza as Arthur would look around. It was early morning and a lot of Inklings were not out quite yet, but it was certainly a site to see. It reminded him of pictures he had seen from Tokyo Japan, a giant tower rose up in the middle with a big fish on it, sidewalk markings and the shops lined the sides of the plaza.

"Wow..." was all he could say before Bianca snapped him out of it by yanking him over to the Booya Bay shops. "Come on you lolly-gaggin squid" she should have known he would try to sight see when really he was supposed to be shopping for himself.

"Alright, alright I'm coming, geez don't have to pull so hard," he said as they went through the shops getting stuff to wear.

The shopping trip was an event, to say the least. He had a few strange looks as he went through the stores given how he has dressed a tad differently. The shoe store was run by a shrimp, helpful mate at least got some decent pair of running shoes that were apparently good in turf wars. The clothing store was run by a jellyfish, a shocking discovery for him. Though the selection was nice as he was trying out some outfits as Bianca ran next door to grab him a hat similar to the one that he originally had. At the end of the fiasco, he picked an outfit similar to his original setup though it was more 'fresh' than before. He was now wearing an orange shirt with a logo of a certain group, looked to be one of the shops he had been to previously, a pair of navy blue shorts that fit close to him. Bianca suggested a little red vest to go over the stuff which made things match up. Though what Arthur got next was something different. He spent a tad extra for two accessories, one being a light green scarf with the ends looking like a tentacle of a squid. He found that nice, along with an earth green messenger bag as his original one was starting to show it's age before he went into stasis. And for a hat, Bianca was able to find a hat that was similar to his, looked almost like an old captions hat. Was black in color with a braided black cord that went over the top of the hat brim and where the rest of the hat went over the head. She also got him a band in the off chance he needed to tie his tentacles back for whatever reason, at the moment he was leaving the tentacles down which was an odd move for most guys as they usually keep it tied up. They bought extras of other items so Arthur would have a wardrobe so he wouldn't be wearing the same things over and over again. At least not the same outfit.

"So what ya think about the outfit? Looking pretty spiffy if ya ask me" Bianca remarked as the two were sitting in a small cafe having a bit of lunch.

"Well trust me, I thought it would be a tad more difficult to find something I would like, I'm just glad that I found something I do like" he chuckled a bit as he munched away at his lunch. Looks to be more fish, seems inklings like to munch on fish by what he can presume.

"Yeah considering your taste, I swear if you had gone over to get that hat, Moe would've been grilling ya or something. But there's one last thing. Time to get ya a splat gun" she told him with a smile already excited.

"Alright, now to start with that question before, what exactly are..." he was asking before she cuts him off.

"Right, it's usually a 4 on 4 sorts of game where ya mostly try to cover the side with as much of your ink as possible for your team. Everyone syncs up their colors but it's all fine and dandy. Given a certain amount of time and then boom you're in it. Simple enough?" Bianca asked as Arthur was digesting it as he thinks. So it was like paintball, but more along the lines of keeping the paint or ink in this case on the ground. Though he could imagine there would be a confrontation over the ground to get more covered.

"I see, and obviously get into small over the turf between the two sides. That makes sense" he stated as he found the explanation simple and to the point.

"Ya got it. The squid sisters usually cover some of the more fresh teams, the popular ones when they go into a turf war when the competitive season starts up" she added and knew she would have to answer this.

"Competitive season is where you can make serious rank ups and possibly get into the higher ranks faster. Other Inklings would've formed tight teams, so at the moment I would suggest trying to sit out on this season as it being a month before it starts. If you don't wow someone in the normal matches then you're probably not gonna get a shot. Everyone that does a turf war fall in ranks. My team, we're in A+. There's D, C, B, A, and S. Now D is the lowest and S is the highest. And in each class, there are three sections, minus, mid, and plus. Plus being the highest in that rank, make sense?" she asked as she finished her explaining one last time.

He would nod with a smile, "Yeah, perfect sense for me. Helps keeps things organized while making sure a player that has a serious rank and obvious advantage in skill does not run into someone that's of much lower rank that is just wet behind their… Tentacle" he thought of what he was saying as she smiled.

"Oh yeah, we'll get ya registered when we head to the tower after we finish with Ammo Knights and getting ya a weapon and a tank" she smiled paying for the bill as they both got up. The walk was not far to the Ammo Knights store which was right across from the cafe at the Booya Base stores. Bianca would enter the store first through a push in a door as Arthur followed suit. It looked like a gun shop inside the store, though instead of the guns he used to seeing when he was little he saw colorful plastic looking guns, brushes, and even large rollers. It was certainly a different sight to see as a short guy with thick spectacles, buck teeth and a horseshoe crab shell on his head looked up from the counter. The smiled greeting them warmly.

"Welcome to Ammo Knights, glad to see you're back Bianca. Still, want to upgrade that roller of yours?" the store clerk asked as she shakes her head.

"Nah, I'm fine with it at the moment. Though I'm here for my friend Sheldon" she commented stepping aside as she lets Arthur join her at the counter.

"Oh, he's certainly a new face. The name is Sheldon, and you are?" the store clerk asked quite curious about the inkling boy. The thing the clerk's eye was the fact that Arthur's eyes didn't match the color his tentacles and hair was, which normally changes on what ink you've been exposed too.

"Arthur, a pleasure to meet ya, Sheldon. I'm not sure if this is an often request but I'm looking for a weapon and an ink tank" as he asked this the clerk looked a bit puzzled.

"A weapon AND a tank? That's a bit odd, what rank are ya? Most inklings your age at least have some sort of rank and already get an ink tank" the clerk remarked as Bianca stepped in.

"It's a long story, Sheldon. Arthur's not been registered yet for turf wars and he's a bit behind on the times" she commented with Sheldon looking to her.

"Behind on the time? Who in the right mind can be that far in the past?" the clerk asked oddly as Arthur sighed.

"I get the point, a bit out of place to ask for an ink tank here. And yes I'm a bit behind on the time, though I'm trying to catch up so can ya cut a squid some slack?" he asked as Sheldon looked back over at him thinking.

"Well, I suppose I can. I rarely do this as most inklings already have ink tanks to trade in from the little leagues to get into the bigger leagues" with that the clerk would walk back into the back as he goes to get a tank.

"That was easy, well we can look over weapons while Sheldon is in the back. They're all unloaded" she said as she was looking over some rollers as Arthur would nod. He started browsing all sorts of various weapons. One looked like a spray gun for a car, one looked to be a sort of weird megaphone, even one looked like a grenade launcher. Heck, he even saw a bucket, much creative. Though he did see one of the larger weapons, it was a long rifle looking weapons with a long barrel and a scope. He took it as he held it up getting a feel for it as he points the rifle across the way and looking down the sight. This one seemed nice for sure.

"Huh? Grabbing a charger weapon? Looks like a Splatterscope" Bianca remarked as she looked over smiling.

"Uhm yeah sure, it feels nice," he said as Sheldon was coming back from the back with an ink tank setting it on the counter.

"Oh a Splatterscope, a good choice if you're looking for major range and power. Just be aware that it's a bit difficult to hold when you have it for a full charge. Have yet to figure out a way to reduce the shaking when at full charge" the store clerk said as he was watching them.

"Well, I find it nice so I think I'll take it" Arthur commented as he walked over to the counter placing it down on the counter.

"Alright, sounds good to me. Oh and about that ink tank, I noticed ya had a messenger bag too, figured I should tell ya this, you can connect your tank to either your back or your messenger bag strap when ya get the time to put it one. Just in case you were wanting to attach it to your bag" Sheldon mentioned as Bianca was paying.

"Oh well thank ya, I'll give it a shot" Arthur would take the tank and start to attach it to the back side of his bag. Normally he kept his bag slung over his right shoulder and across his body. The tank fits well as he smiles, holding the splatterscope in his hands smiling.

"This feels quite nice I must admit," he said with a smile as Sheldon was smiling as well. Always good to have another happy customer. A flash came from an odd direction as he looked over seeing Bianca with her phone smiling as she took a picture.

"Got ya squid boy, will need to share this with my mom and Jake" she commented with a smile.

"Oh how cute, the next one's gonna cost ya" Arthur joked as Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Yeah right ya dingus, let's head over to the tower to get you registered real quick. If you're going to a turf war, like to the tower you can have your weapon on ya. Just make sure it's holstered somewhere like on the back normally" she added as they were walking out of the store. Sheldon would help Arthur out a bit showing him how he could attach his weapon to the ink tank makes moving it a little bit easier as it freed his hands up. Though not to mention the fact that once they were back outside it was his turn to carry the clothes. Oh, fun. Thankfully there was a mail system that was pretty quick on delivery that Bianca got him to use when they had a chance. Sent it back to her home so it was there for them when it arrives. Plus it frees their hands up to do stuff as both made it to the tower. Registration was a bit easy, though was a tad bit of an issue given his name as Arthur made the last name up at the end.

"So Arthur Sketchink? Interesting name ya got there Arthur" Bianca said as they were leaving the tower with him looking over the card having his face and name on it. Sort of like an ID.

"Well, hey it's a name, isn't it? What is your name? Beakers?" he teased as Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, I'll try to remember to splat ya one if we ever get on opposite teams" she commented with a sigh.

"Or just splat me when ya get the free time" he joked with a smile as he stretched as they were outside the tower now. Bianca's phone buzzed as she looked at it to a text message and thinks.

"Well if I got ya geared for a turf war, and knowing you at this point. You need help. Come with me, I want ya to meet my team" she told him as she starts to walk a certain direction doing down an alleyway. Arthur would follow hot on her heels as they went.

"Your team? Right, seeing you guys are four on four teams it would make sense for you guys to have a selected team or arrangement of teammates to assist in the objective" he would answer his own question as she smiled.

"Yeah got it smart fish. These are also some of my best friends. Jake is our team caption, though at times I can be in the second command if things go wild with Jake" as she spoke she was turning a few bends as they were reaching what looked to be an apartment building as she rings up a certain room number. The door unlocked for Bianca as she finishes talking to someone over the mic piece on the doorbell.

"In ya go" she held the door open as to let Arthur in first.

"Well thank ya" he walks on in with her following up behind going down a hallway after she points to him where to go.

"Tsunami has an apartment here and there's a usually a break room or lounge where inklings hang out. Not a lot of other inklings use this space and there's not really any major teams trying to compete from this apartment. So most of the residents here are fine letting us use it for our purposes. So long we don't trash the place and make a huge mess" Bianca adds leading the way coming to a glass door on the left that went into the lounge.

The lounge was set up with several long couches on one wall. A large screen TV right across from where the door was. A few tables were set up, one being a coffee table with the other two being more made for playing board games or card games. There was a sliding glass door that went outside to the courtyard which there was a spot where the team could practice using their weapons there. Though given the room was being used by Bianca and her team, there were posters of various splatfests and events that had gone on in Inkopolis. Though at this very moment, there were two male inklings sitting on a couch watching TV. Both had possibly moved the couch to be in front of the TV to watch it. There was a female inkling sitting at a table reading a book as they looked over as the two entered.

"Hey Bianca, glad you can make it. Figured I'd give ya a buzz see how you're doing" one of them greeted. This one had blue 'hair' with his tentacles held in a low ponytail wearing a blue t-shirt and black jersey shorts with a pair of red shoes. It was to be noted that this one's skin color was tanned.

"Yeah hey, Jake, glad to see you too though it was just yesterday we got another turf war under out belt" Bianca smiled as the other male inkling looked Arthur over. This one sported a white t-shirt with a pair of blue shorts wearing a sports jacket. His tentacles were a mess and some fell just over his left eye. His skin was as white as Arthur's and his ink was orange.

"So seems the new kid's on his feet already? Looks more ready to go trick or treating then actually doing turf wars" the inkling joked as Bianca sighed.

"Rick lay off the jokes will ya? It was a pain just trying to sneak out before mom caught us missing" Bianca mentioned as Rick threw his hands in the air trying to claim innocence.

"Well it's good to see he's doing alright at least," the female inkling said with a smile. She wore a blue tank top like Bianca's though she also had a green skirt on going down to her knees. Under the skirt, she had what appeared to be fitness pants that were form fitting under it at least preventing peepers from trying to get a look at her. Her ink color was purple while she was white skinned too, oddly enough she had freckles and her two large tentacles looked much longer than normal. So she had hers in a high ponytail like the boys. This must be Tsunami as she's the only other girl in the room minus Bianca.

"Well, alright guys. Seeing that now this inkling is fully awake I figured I would introduce ya to him. Guys this is Arthur, say hi to him" Bianca said with a smile as she stood aside as the other three inklings moved to be more in front of Arthur.

"Hello there, sorry I was a bit of a slump when you guys first saw me" Arthur would remark flashing them a smile.

"Well, I'll start off I'm Jake team caption here" Jake responded first as it was Rick that leaned against him with a smirk.

"The name's Rick. Call me Ricky if ya like if you're feeling picky on names" Rick gave a cheesy grin as the other three of his teammates groaned. Arthur cracked a bit of a smile, puns were fine with him.

"And I'm Tsunami. A pleasure to make an acquaintance Arthur" Tsunami replied giving a soft smile as she nods to him.

"So tell me, why were ya on that map anyway? Snoopin around for buried gold or something?" Rick asked as a joke and Jake jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Hey, that was uncalled for and you know it," Jake remarked as Rick rolled his eyes.

"Psh, yeah right. We all know he was out there for some whatever reason. Must have poked at something that made him forget who he was I bet ya. You know how humans are mysterious. Mysteriously Dead" Rick added as Tsunami got into it.

"Now Rick, we know that archeologists have suggested humans died out from a rapid climate change and rise in ocean sea levels, please keep your facts right," she asked as Rick again kept going on his way walking up to Arthur.

"So what was it? Ya just snoopin around some ancient building hopin for gold or something?" Rick asked as Arthur remained silent. Oh, what a bombshell he had for them.

"Well, I think I can tell. But do promise not to start rambling off about it to others okay?" Arthur asked as the three inklings agreed, "Alright then let's begin".

"Okay so let me get this straight. You were put to sleep by humans as a last resort to save your kind with many other. You woke up to the place literally had gone down south and now your an inkling from possibly some machine changing your genetic code?" Rick asked as Arthur had finished telling the other three inklings how this all went down. The three were sitting on a couch along with Bianca while Arthur was in a chair in front of them.

"For the long and short yes. That's right" Arthur remarked as Rick, Jake and Tsunami all shook their heads in disbelief.

"I must say this has got to be one heck of a wild ride for you that I can imagine," Jake remarked as Rick grimaced.

"And here I was thinkin you were jerking our chains. But seeing your tentacles changed colors during the whole conversation to a color that's never done. I think I can believe it. Sorry for dissing ya like that" as Rick had commented Arthur looked up towards his tentacle head as he pulls a strand down. Originally it was green as he had been exposed to some green ink when he came out of the pod. But now for whatever reason, that color had faded and now was brown like a brunette.

"All's good Rick. I would've been skeptical myself in your shoes as well so I'm not gonna judge ya. Didn't know so nothing wrong there" Arthur forgave Rick easily, better to simply patch over a misunderstanding than to let it boil.

"Though I gotta say that AI had to be pretty intelligent if it could modify DNA in that way. There's a lot more to our world we still need to learn about that's for sure" Tsunami mentioned as Arthur would agree. This world was quite modern to his personal eyes though not as twisted as his own home. Bianca would clear her throat as she looked to her teammates.

"Well guys, I don't think he would do well seeing we have a full team. Plus, Jake as the Squiffer, Tsunami has the heavy splatling, and Rick has the .96 gal deco and I'm a roller. So we have a pretty varied pallet of players here already" Bianca mentioned as Arthur sighed.

"Well could simply just be a backup I suppose, or maybe just a freelancer" Arthur would lean back in the chair trying to be a bit comfy.

"Eh, backups are nice but it's hard to be a backup when you're completely out of our rank. We're at least A rank, you're at the bottom of the pole mate" Jake brought the reality as Tsunami was thinking.

"Well, even if he's not at our rank he still needs help. Probably want to set up some sort of course so he can get some practice in the courtyard" she recommended as Rick got interested quickly.

"Oh I like the idea of this, plus I don't think anyone is going to be using the courtyard for a while so we could use it easily" Rick smiled as he gets up as he stretches, "I'll get some of the dummies made up" with that he went off humming passing the sliding doors.

"At least that got him off his can" Jake smiled as he got up as well.

"Well, I think I can get the launch pad to work this time around," Tsunami said with a smile as Jake's face turned pale.

"I...Hope so" he shivered walking outside as Tsunami noticed the expression and followed after him.

"Oh come on! It was just one time!" she called out heading out the sliding door. Arthur sat there confused as he heard the entire conversation going on.

"So is there something I'm to know about that?" Arthur asked as Bianca whistled a bit innocently.

"Well, Tsunami is sort of like our tech expert as she tends to help maintain our training equipment here. The launch pad she got was a used one that she managed to refurbish. But sometimes it mismatches numbers that she inputs. And Jake was one of the unfortunate that got shot up to the top of the roof rather than across the ball court" Bianca smiled a bit giggling, "Funny watching him complaining while at the top of the apartments here". Arthur looked concerned as he heard this with his eye twitching.

"Miscalculation nothing! Could get ya hurt girl" he said as Bianca waved her hand as she got up.

"Oh please, we're squishy. We may dislocate something but never seen someone break anything. Well, maybe a nose, their pride, and weapon. But that's all really. So come on Sketch-Ink let's get going" she offered a hand to him as Arthur smiled taking her hand helping him up.

"Alright, hopefully, all goes well" he added making one final adjustment to his messenger bag. He would move the bag over to his right side and move the ink tank to be behind him once more. This should be interesting. The courtyard was fairly large and enclosed by the apartment buildings with a basketball court on one side while there was a garden area for a bit of green with a tree or two and bushes. The rest was a pavement top with a shed that the team used to store some of their equipment. As Tsunami and Jake were setting things up, Rick and Bianca showed Arthur about using targets and how to use his weapon. It was a quick surprise to both that he picked up the splattershot easily from his shooting point as he easily zoomed in on them and took them down. An odd note that was noticed that Arthur's ink was still green despite having his squid body and ink hair color is brown, a bit odd, It was hilarious though to see Rick's reaction when he asked Arthur to race over to one of the targets and didn't turn into a squid. Time for more education on how to move around as an inkling. Arthur had to learn how to be a squid which took some time as he found that inklings could naturally do this though for him he had to learn it. It felt weird to do it, but he managed to do it. Thank god he had a photogenic memory as he had noticed an inkling turning into a squid at one point that went down a pipe. Tsunami found him a tad cute as he looked like a chocolate squid which got him a bit red at the cheeks. Though the training went well as he was learning some movement not a lot til Tsunami got the launch pad up and working.

"Alright Arthur, take this" Tsunami would be holding a laptop as she hands him over an earpiece.

"What's this for?" Arthur asked as she smiled.

"It's just a small ear headset. If ya get your rank card, it's more of a mini-computer as you can sync that headpiece to it so you can talk to others that are on a team" Tsunami mentioned as Arthur pulled his card out looking at it. He wondered why the card felt a tad thick as he pressed a button that opened a menu up. It was a bit overwhelming as she showed him he could add friends to his card and share battle status and share stats. But for now, they synced his new ear piece to the card and got on the same frequency of the teams but had an open channel.

"Alright, the mic is good for any turf match we get into but it won't go long range like a cell phone so if we get split up we'll be in the dark" she mentioned as Arthur nods.

"Understand," he said looking over to seeing a swirling pool of ink as he takes a deep breath, "So that's a launchpad? What do they do exactly?" asking curiously as well as cautiously.

"Launch pads are meant to help propel inklings across the map or onto the map faster. It can be set to travel great distance but can only be used as a squid. Normally you can set where you want to go if ya got a beacon. But I've got full control of it from my tablet so I'll try shooting ya over there. Just be careful as you'll want to change back to this form before landing. Otherwise, you're gonna bounce around" Tsunami added as she smiled as she points to where Jake was standing. It was on the other side of the courtyard. He looked at the pad and then over to where she was pointing as he bit his lower lip.

"Well alright. Just tell me when you're ready okay?" Arthur was getting butterflies in his stomach as he walks over to the pad and gets ready to change to a squid. It took a few moments before Tsunami gave the thumbs up.

"Alright let her rip!" she said smiling as Arthur nods. Taking a deep breath he would sink down and would start to be positioned on the launchpad as he felt it charging. Though as he was on the pad the tablet made a buzz as Tsunami was looking down at it. Bianca and Jake were standing behind Tsunami noticing her distress.

"Hey Tsunami what's going on?" Bianca asked as her female friend looked distressed.

"Oh dear not again, I could have sworn I have this fixed" Tsunami said as the launch power was going up on the display.

"Oh, shell… Arthur! Try getting out of there!" Bianca shouted as Arthur heard the conversation over the ear piece and tries struggling but no avail.

"He's stuck. Oh great, hey Arthur buddy-boy hold tight! It's gonna be a bit bumpy!" Rick said as the concerned look came from him looking at the three inklings standing near him.

"What ya mean by Bump-EEEEEEEEEEEE!" he was cut off right as he was saying bumpy as the launch pad literally shot him high and fast! Nearly disappearing into the sky as he was sent flying. The four inklings were standing there awestruck as if seeing a home run ball go right over them as Bianca looked at her friend.

"WHERE IN THE INKOPOLIS DID YOU FIRE HIM?!" Bianca shouted as Tsunami was trying to work the numbers quickly.

"O-Oh dear! Oh, bother! I didn't realize it could do that" Tsunami added as she was freaking out too.

"Girls breath, geez gonna choke on your own ink if ya keep this up," Rick said as Jake was running over as quickly as he could knowing something went wrong from Bianca's voice.

"A-Arthur's probably on the o-other side of Inkopolis pretty soon" Tsunami stammered as she was embarrassed as heck that her equipment malfunctioned again.

"OF INKOPOLIS?!" all three Inklings, Jake, Rick and Bianca all shouted as they groaned. Great what they needed, a squid hunt.

The flight was quite the success as Arthur went streaming across the sky over Inkopolis as he was looking around. Okay, now this was a bit too high for his liking! He was seriously freaking out as he was traveling and soon hit the peak of his climb. So now gravity and his forward momentum were time to play, what goes up must come back down. And he was coming down fast like a missile he felt, and despite being told to change back to his humanoid form, he decided to stay as a squid as he was closing to the ground. A few bounces won't hurt, right? Tell that to his sore head after the first bounce. He bounced for a bit down some sort of street and skate park as on his 5th bounce he popped out as an inkling to go into a roll before stopping on his feet against a railing. He was panting as his heart was racing a mile a second. More thrilling than any roller coaster he had been on that's for sure.

"Damn Arthur… Phew, no way in heck I'm doing that again. Dang!" he commented to himself as he taps the earpiece.

"Hey, Guys?… Guys? Bianca? Rick… Tsunami? Jake?" he called as he was getting no reply over the headset. He sighed as he looked around at where he was. Well, this was perfect, in an old abandoned skate park by all looks of it. Fences were built up higher then he could climb so for all intents and purposes he was stuck as he sighed opening the channel up on his earpiece to anyone.

"Well fantastic, take a wild ride on a launch pad, end up fenced in. Lucky you" he grimaced as his headpiece crackled a bit.

"You know you can get through those fences as a Squid right?" a female voice came over the headpiece. The voice sounded calm as if it was looking at him as Arthur looked around.

"Huh? What do ya mean here? And who is this?" he asked the voice looking around as it was obvious someone was seeing him. His gaze would turn upwards as he heard the voice come on one more time.

"Well, seeing you're looking up I think you'll find me soon enough" as the voice spoke he heard a whoosh as a trail of ink was shot not far from his spot. He followed the line over to see a lime colored squid dropping down from a fire escape and then into a puddle of ink soon standing up to form her humanoid form. The female stood a bit around his size as she walked over wearing a pair of gray sweat pants, a big green hoodie with a band logo on it and a large hat that he could assume held her tentacles in it. He noted that she wore a mouth mask over her mouth and nose, just a plain white cover as she walked over to him with a black and blue looking weapon similar to his Charger weapon. Her ink tank was on his back as she looked him over. Arthur paused for a few minutes to study her for a moment before he nods.

"Well, seeing we're now eye to eye, what did you mean by the fences?" Arthur asked once more as she sighed.

"The fences? Squids are flexible and if your ink is under something, like a fence, you can slide right in under it. Easy trick" she answered placing her charger on its butt end leaning to that side as she looked him over.

"You look a bit… new to all of this. Never tried getting around like a squid?" she asked calmly though there was a hint of annoyance in her question. Seriously what fresh kid doesn't know about this?

"You can say that yes. I've not really tried using my ink to help me get around so much plus I'm actually lost" he answered as she raised an eyebrow.

"Lost you say? Took a wrong turn down in Albatross?" she asked a tad sarcastic as he cracked a small grin.

"Yes, was suppose to take a left turn not a right" he fired right back as he was recollecting, "No, a few inklings were trying to show me the ropes on how to use my squid form and various other items that I would find in turf wars. One of them had a launch pad and well, let's just say it went nuts and sent me here instead of shooting me thirty feet away".

"Hmm, sounds a tad bit more of what I'd prefer not to but hey to each their own right?" she mentioned offering a shrug as he continues.

"You don't happen to know a way to get back to the booya bay mall at the Plaza do ya?" he asked as it was a stupid question which the tone said it.

"Psh yeah I know how to get there. I won't try babysitting ya but I'll try helping ya learn how to get around stuff" she commented as she was walking up to one of the fenced in alleyways that seemed to go outward to a set of stairs.

"Alright, oh and what's your name exactly?" Arthur asked as she shoots a shot of ink past the fence. She would turn back to him looking at him with her golden eyes.

"The name's Molly. And I already heard you muttering your name over the channel so I already know" she told him as she turns into a squid and slips in under the fence via her ink. Her ink was lime green as she pops back out kicking some of the ink off her red sneakers.

"Alright Molly, a pleasure to meet ya," he said as he went up to the fence to follow her. He pulled his splatterscope and shot a small bit of ink then easily turning to a squid and slips in under the fence.

"Hm, you pick up fast that is good" she commented as she walked on down the alleyway though she shot a bit of ink down that went over the ledge to the next level and slipped into a squid to zip on forward.

"? Huh, well that is certainly one way to get ahead" he commented as he tries something similar to what she did. Though he had this itching to try some parkour with her as he noticed the railing to keep someone from not falling over the edge and down the stairs. He smiled shooting just a bit short of the rail as he dives down in a dash as a squid. He tries to time it as he jumps out of the ink morphing to a humanoid as he grabs the railing to pull himself over it as he shoots a line of ink that he drops into and goes down the alleyway passing her.

"Hm? Trying to make this a race?" she asked over the ear piece as he pops out of his green ink as he looks back at her.

"Well not exactly, sorry about that. Figured I should have kept in behind ya seeing you know the way" he chuckled as she frowned.

"Again, don't come crying to me if you end up lost. Though I caught a glimpse what you did back there, what was that?" she asked a tad curiously after her mild scold.

"That? I usually Parkour around my way around towns, namely climbing and running around places around urban environments to help you get around" he answered her having his weapon drawn. She had put her charger away as she nods.

"I see, that's interesting to hear. I figured that would be something you would try to do in a turf war. I would suggest you watch where you do that if you were in a turf war. Cause you know unless you want to end up landing in enemy colors when you jump that rail, I say go ahead and do it" Molly commented as Arthur frowned setting his own charger on his back tank as he walked with her.

"I see, again I've yet to do a turf war so I'm just seeing if I can make it in," he told her giving a soft sigh. It was at this moment he felt that slam of cold. That cold chilling truth that he really was alone here. Heck, he felt alien in his own skin now and his perspective was very alien to others. Could he actually make it here with doing turf wars or would he have to find something else to do? He knew art but that was really all that he had at his disposal. A hand would lay on his shoulder as they turned a corner down the alleyway. The hand was from Molly looking at him.

"If you want my advice, don't give up on yourself. Everyone starts somewhere, I know. I was a nobody once and now I've made my own mark in the world. You can too" a tiny confident smile came from her which from her demeanor itself felt like a ray of sunshine despite the medical mask covering her mouth. He could see the dimples under it.

He offered a smile back to Molly, "Thanks for the advice, I'll keep giving it a try" he added as he noticed they were going to a wall.

"Just follow me, and if you can make it you'll do fine anywhere," Molly said as she pulls her charger out seeing it was at least a three story high building she shot high. It was then Arthur realized the actual distance the charger could push, which was impressive as it coated a small line all the way up to the roof. She would jump into the ink changing into a squid as she moves up it with no problem. Arthur would smile as he tries copying her. He had to take two shots to get himself up there and would swim up and hop up on the roof with her. This was certainly interesting, she showed him a few different movement strategies and items here and there as they went. She even showed him how to use these hubs that connect ink together to let inklings pass through them as squids. Arthur had missed the fact he had his phone on silent mode as he was making his way to another…

"Oh god not this again" he groaned as he looked at the launchpad that seemed to be pointing to the tower. There were about ten blocks from the plaza as Molly looked at him.

"Well, this is the fastest way to the plaza from here and sunlight's burning" she points up noting it was nearly six at night with where the sun was setting. He gave a sigh as he looked at it.

"Hey got an odd question," he asked her turning towards her with his rank card out, "I know I'm new to all of this, but if I ever run into ya when I'm trying to do a turf war I'd like to try playing with ya at some time. Or just… h-Hey!" he was cut short when Molly grabbed his card as she was pressing stuff on it. He tries to grab it but with a straight face, she keeps him bay with one hand on his face pushing him back as she types something in.

"Hold your seahorses, I'm just adding myself to your card. I know your lower rank than me, but you seem like a nice guy. Not many newcomers go straight to the charger weapons. So you're special" she adds as she finishes and tosses him the card back. He would catch the card as he looked at it and smiled.

"Well Thanks, Molly, I'll see ya around. Hopefully, I can land this landing better heh" he chuckled to himself nervously as he shifts to squid and soon is shot off the launch pad as he goes sailing. After he left, she was reprogramming the launcher as she was targeting a different place when the phone rings a cheeky tune. She sighed as she answers.

"Yeah, Callie? I know what time it is. I would've been there faster but I ran into someone cousin. Their name?" she was talking as she looked over at the tower and gave a soft smile. "His name's Arthur. I think we'll be seeing him again. But hey I'll be there sis geez. Can't have the squid sisters without Callie and Marie together" she would say her goodbye and gets into the launcher to send the squid sister to the studio that her cousin was waiting for her at.


	2. Chapter 2

"You ran into who again?" Bianca asked as Arthur had finally caught back up with her and her squad. It was odd when Arthur called her after reaching the plaza and told her he was fine. They were actually getting to that train stop just as he called so they easily managed to get off to see him.

"I'm telling you it was a gal named Molly. Heck, she even said she added me on the ID card" Arthur remarked having his card out. Obviously having difficulty finding where to add others.

"Here let me help you, go to profile then hit friends list..." Tsunami said as she walked over beside him to look over his shoulder. Was unsure which was funnier, the fact that she outdid herself since the launch of the S. or her flood of apologies when she finally saw Arthur in one piece.

"Like this? Okay one new person..." he said as the other three moved in a tad closer. The group was just outside of the plaza as they stood around talking.

"This is weird, could have sworn. Weird" he commented as Tsunami looked perplexed too.

"What is it? She gave ya a dummy profile?" Rick asked giving a small smirk.

"It says Marie as the name and Molly as a nickname. Wait a minute..." Arthur paused studying the face though Tsunami let out a fangirl scream when she saw the profile icon.

"OMG! YOU MET MARIE?!" Tsunami squealed as the other three inklings looked surprised.

"What? No way! Let me see" Bianca said as she snatched Arthur's card and looked at it.

"Yup that's Marie alright. Surprised finding her outside the studio but then again I've heard rumors she does do turf wars every now and then, only 2v2 matches" Jake said as Rick was shaking his head.

"You lucky son of a zapfish, too bad ya didn't get an autograph or something" Rick chuckled as Bianca's hands Arthur the card back.

"I… erm what?" Arthur was a tad confused but was quickly realizing his act was dropping missing the pop star he had ran into.

"Geez Arthur, you kill me sometimes," Bianca said as she points to the big screen TV as the news was going on.

"That's Marie," she said as Arthur looked up watching it. The news was running at which point discussing various topics of what's going on in the city as well as the upcoming season. And sure enough, both squid sisters were running the show. It was then Arthur realized the similarity given Marie's disposition on camera as well as her eyes themselves. So one of the two squid sisters had shown him a bit of the ropes on how to move around as a squid. Well, Color him surprised.

"Well, darn. Didn't realize that" Arthur commented as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah! Geez man, could have gotten her number or something. That would've made you the sliest inkling around" Rick commented sounding a tad jealous over Arthur's stroke of luck.

Arthur would crack a little grin holding up his phone as he turns to Rick, "Who said I didn't?" The rest of the squad started laughing at Ricks flustered response trying to snatch Arthur's phone to get the number that was never there. Funny how big fandoms got when they throw out the items they met someone really big inside of said fandom.

Eventually, the hours slipped away as the squad would disband for the day and go their separate ways. Arthur keeping up with Bianca as they road the tram home. It had indeed been a long day in more than one ways. From doing clothes shopping with Bianca to learning how to move around a cityscape with 'Molly' it had been a long day. Both Arthur and Bianca sat on the tram backs against the window as they watch as the street lamps passed by and buildings were zooming by on the tram.

"Hey Bianca, I gotta say something," Arthur said as she looked over at him. Bianca was merely playing on her phone as both were silent for this leg of the trip back.

"What is it?" she replied back to him as he looked at her with a smile.

"Thanks for your help today. Not sure where I would be if you hadn't pulled me out of where I was. Probably wandering the streets or woods confused about what was going on" he thanked as it was most likely true. He had no idea what it was like to be an inkling and how that develops an individual. If it wasn't for her flexibility he would probably be screwed.

She would offer a smile back, "You're welcome I suppose. I knew you would've been going mad if mom had you to herself all day while I was out with the squad. Heck, wouldn't have any fun stories to share if you did stay with her" she laughed a bit as Arthur did as well. A fairly good point.

"Yeah, you're right. Though Jake is right. I can't work as a backup for you guys. My rank is at the very bottom and I've yet to even try doing a turf war" he added as he was thinking a bit on if he would do well. Though he did remember what Molly had said as well. Best not to give up on yourself, if ya do you've might as well already lost the match at the start.

"I know buddy, trust me I would like to see how you would do with us honestly. Despite being new you've adapted fast" she remarked patting his shoulder.

"Thanks for the compliment. Guess I could go into town and do some freelancing. Maybe even a few odd jobs if I needed work to get some extra cash I could" he said as she would shake her head.

"Nah knowing mom, she would probably give ya some money to work with at the start. Heck, you're still new to this whole place and you've got only me, my mother and my squad that is behind ya. Though I think ya got Rick jealous about that phone number" she commented thinking about it as she bit her upper lip a bit.

"Oh the phone number, I was joking on that," he said with a smile as Bianca would brighten up fast.

"I knew it! You lying squid you!" she would pull him into a headlock to mess with his tentacle hair and hat as he would squirm trying to get out. Seems they were becoming good friends and doing so quickly.

Both of the inklings would return home with no major issues with Bianca's mother waiting for them to see what all had happened. It was a surprise to the mother how fast Arthur had adapted to this new world and how quickly he was learning with his splatterscope. Seemed to be the perfect fit for him. Grace informed Arthur that she had done the liberty of cleaning his new clothes that were delivered to their home which she had to admit he picked a nice selection of stuff to wear. He thanked her as he decided to turn in for the night. Once inside his room, door closed even, he would start to put his clothes away while he would transfer some of the stuff from his old messenger bag to his new one. Namely two of his sketchbooks and pencils. As well as a few other items that may help him in a pinch. He would set his phone on the charger as he realized there was something new to play with. A tablet with a message on it from Grace. 'I know it is not much but this should help you out a bit while you're exploring and doing turf wars! -Grace'. He would spend a little time getting the tablet up and setting up a profile and syncing his ID card to it for his profile. It took Arthur a bit to realize what a Turf Card was as the tablet was requiring a Turf Card. Seems his ID card was called a Turd Card which that makes some sense to him as he finishes syncing his two devices with a yawn. Afterwards, he would place his phone and tablet on the charger along with the ID card then turn in for the night. It had been a long day for him.

Dreams are such hard things to control at times. Sometimes they can rouse the greatest joys of the world while also bring the darkest of fears to reality inside the mind. For Arthur, he had yet to have a good dream for quite some time, even when he was back home he had nightmares. Ever since his little sister passed away he was plagued by nightmares every now and then. Though for tonight it seemed to be a different dream. Standing in the middle of a blank void, nothing was there but silence. Even the words are spoken from his mouth to keep him company was muffled. He could not hear nor see a thing. Softly echoes would start to ring out, echoes of the past. At first, it was of the good, the times when he remembered life was good. But over time those echoes turned more into screams of nightmares. The nightmares of the past that would ring out. Sadly within this silence, the echoes just got louder and louder til finally, it drowned anything out. It was the screams of his dying sister that stirred him awake as his alarm clock on the phone woke him up. He laid there motionless as he was trying to pull himself out of bed. He turned the device off as he sighed, it may be best to go on ahead and get ready for the day. The calendar said it was a Monday, seemed he was woken up on a Saturday. He would get himself dressed wearing a pair of tan brown cargo pants and a blue t-shirt with another turf war logo on it as he noticed some lights in the kitchen. Was odd someone already up at this hour? He had his alarm set early due to yesterday as he walked out of his room. He would find Grace was making something for herself as she turned around noticing him. Grace was dressed in more rugged clothing, a pair of pants with a T-shirt under a brown vest as she looked at him a bit surprised.

"Oh morning Arthur, did I wake you up?" the mother asked as she was finishing getting her toast out of the toaster.

"No, just woke up on my own. Difficulty sleeping" Arthur replied with a sigh.

"Though why are you up so early? It's five in the morning and Bianca said you normally don't get up til six" he asked as the mother sighed.

"She's right about that. However I was on the phone with my archeological team and we've decided to try getting back onto Shell Mountain where we first discovered that lab, and supposedly my daughter found you. I tried telling them about your story but they're not buying off on it" Grace answered munching on her toast.

"I mean, seriously I don't want to discredit you at all as you seem so set on it, but humans have been gone for 12,000 years. My fellow team thinks that you're just another inkling that whacked their head on something. I'm hoping if we can find where ever you said you came out of, we may find more clues there hun" Grace said as the look on Arthur's face looked slightly defeated. So there was a bit of doubt with her too that he was really a human? Geez, talk about popping the popfish there.

"I see… Well, what should I do for today? I would rather not accompany you and I have this weird erm feeling if I went to school someone would find it odd if a new student just appeared out of nowhere" Arthur commented as the mother shrugged.

"I know, though a lucky for you is that we're still in summer. Turf wars become much more difficult to do when fall and winter comes around. And the main tournament is just before school starts. So you don't have to worry about that hun. We don't have school year round, though would be nice, to say the least" Grace said as she got up and gives him a hug.

"I'll be back much later tonight, I think you can Bianca can get along for that time seeing you two got along so well yesterday" she smiled taking her dirty dishes to rinse off before placing in the dishwasher. Arthur really didn't give a hug back as he felt a bit adrift all the sudden. This all felt so foreign so suddenly as he nods to her.

"Well alright, take care alright?" Arthur said as Grace would get her boots on smiling and waving off before she went out. This was gonna be a long day.

It was about an hour before Bianca woke up and found Arthur finishing his breakfast as they both got a chance to talk. Seems that Bianca was looking at working with her team to get a better ranking or at least train up for when the competitive season started. So for Arthur, he figured it may be best to try freelancing and see if anyone would want to pull him into a team. It was not the best of plans but hey what could he do? He couldn't compete with her given they were much higher ranks than he was. So he was down at the bottom with the rest of the newbies. Both would get their stuff together Arthur with his messenger bag, ink tank and splattershot and Bianca with her roller and ink tank before leaving. She could tell something was a tad off with him as she pokes him while on the train ride over to the plaza.

"Hey, you've been a tad quiet here. You sure you're going to be alright?" she asked with some mild concern.

Arthur would look over to her as he nods, "Yeah I'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?" asking her a rather tad curiously as she sighed.

"Look I've had a friend or two that's had to go out freelancing, expect a lot of hate and getting bashed around a lot" she was speaking from personal experience. Freelancing pretty much involved looking for teams or setting your availability to LFG or Looking For Group. And then waiting for when a team wants to pull you in when there's an odd man out.

"I hear ya, I'll figure it out just have fun and don't worry about me. I can take care of myself" he told her with a small smile as she sighed.

"Fine, I'll let you have it your way" her voice had a tad regret it as she felt something was off with him today. In all honesty, she wanted to believe him but like so many others his story had no credible information. There was no way to prove Arthur was right or wrong. All that could be deduced was he was an inkling with a mental issue that has him thinking he's something that he's not. Though there weren't any missing person signs up so who knows if he was just a runaway from somewhere and got onto the turf field at the wrong time. It was a stretch of an idea but hey, she had to convince her friends to at least believe him in case he actually was just mental so not to break his fragile mind. This she didn't tell him for his safety. Once they both reached the plaza, they would split ways as he met up with her team before they went off without him to the tower. He gave a soft sigh as he watched them walk off, that same sinking feeling he had in the back of his mind was creeping in but pushed it back for now. Seeing that now he was alone, time to find somewhere to camp and see what he can do. He would walk into a nearby cafe and takes a seat. Just order a drink to tie him over as he gets his tablet out to start his search. This was gonna take a while.

And sure enough, it was taking him a long time to get anywhere. He was chatting with various teams that seemed to have open slots but was quickly turned down as he sat there after an hour and sighed. This was not getting him anywhere. He decided to instead to try drawing again, seeing if his hand was still any good from when he was still a human. He pulled out a sketchbook, one that he had doodled a bit in before he went to sleep. He moved to the next clear page, getting a mechanical pencil out and began to draw. Not like good old wooden pencils, though considering inklings had mechanical pencils this was a bonus. He was drawing himself as an inkling sitting back against a glass window that divided the image. On the other side was a human that looked like the inkling but his hat was down and unable to see the face. Holding a broken flower as the side with the human had so many different things, outlandish to inklings. While on the inkling side, there were the people, buildings, turf doodles which were something that a human would probably find hard to comprehend. Though both had this sort of area around them that bubbled out where there would be nothing but just the person sitting there. Mirror images of different times. He sighed as he began to dwell on the past, sure things were going bad. Sure his race was dying. He was told he was helping mankind with this. Hard to believe that when they're all dead.

His attention was broken for a moment as the news came on at noon. It did take him some time to sketch out his pencil drawing as he watched it. Seems there was a report on Shell Mountain that there were some more findings of humans being unearthed. They claimed to have found a new string instrument contained inside a box while it was under a pod-shaped bed. The theory went that the humans that resided on Shell Mountain stayed inside these pods possibly to live their lives after a certain point of their life or maturity. Other Inklings were yammering about wondering how humans really looked. Do they look like a monkey? A hairy monster? Did they do turf wars like inklings? There was some hot debate for it as he listened to all of it. And every question he heard, his mind shouted an answer as his mouth did not move. He knew, he knew who he was but the sinking feeling kept coming and soon realizing how really isolated he truly was. How bizarre he truly was compared to a normal inkling.

"Hey you okay sir?" a voice came from Arthur's side as he looked over seeing a male inkling in a waiter outfit. This was the waiter that had been waiting on him for the drink. The waiter had yellow coloring for his tentacle hair as well as his eyes. The skin was white with a hint of a tan.

"Oh, I'm fine why are you asking?" Arthur asked as the waiter points to under his own right eye. Arthur would place a hand up against it and found a tear as he sighed.

"I didn't want to cause a stir but thought I would ask at the very least," the waiter said as Arthur sighed as he got his stuff together.

"Well, thanks for asking at least. I've already paid you correct?" Arthur asked as the waiter nods. Arthur would lay a few coins down for a nice tip as he pats the waiter's shoulder.

"Don't blow it in one place?" he remarked before getting up and heading out. He needed some fresh air and get his ears away from this human findings stuff.

Though as he walked away from the plaza it became harder and harder to get his ears to shut out the noise. He could hear some inklings chatting about humans from old to the young. Seems the new findings were quite unique as he walked by them with a frown. Is this what it would've been like if humans had discovered an ancient civilization's technology and being the only ancestor of said civilization or resident of said civilization. He kept to himself as he could simply feel the world just getting more and more distant as he walked around. Before he realized it he had walked nearly half way across the city and was in a park as he was looking around. It looked to be a fairly large park with several trees, stone pathways and plenty of green all around. He sighed to himself walking first over to a large water fountain with a squid jetting out from it. Other squids were spewing out water that went into the pool below as he looked in. He could see himself clear as day. No this wasn't him. This wasn't who he was. He was more than this but here he was trapped in this body of a kid. He would turn away from it as he didn't notice too many inklings around. Most probably doing turf wars or at work, which was nice. It would've been odd finding an inkling of unusual colors standing there tearing up for apparently no good reason. He was losing it. Heck, the only thing he had to lose was himself. He lost everything to time and to a drunkard. Walking over to a nearby tree off the walking paths, he would take a seat at the base as he presses his back against the tree. From there, he sat there and just sobbed. Who was he kidding? He was tackling himself and fighting his own natural disconnection. He was a human, he knew it on the inside. But everyone just sees him as an inkling, just a strange looking inkling.

"Ya gotta be kidding me? Aqua quiet on us now?" a voice said talking to another as the two walked down the path. It was two female inklings. The one that had spoken had green colors for her tentacle hair and eyes, her skin with a good tan as she walked with her friend. Her friend had orange color for her hair tentacles with pale white skin with freckles. The green one's tentacles were long like any normal inkling girl would have however the ends were a bit bigger than normal while the orange one had slightly shorter tentacles. The one with the green had a white tank top on with a store logo on it while wearing black sports shorts and wearing orange tennis shoes. This one was carrying an umbrella as the weather said it was likely to rain today. The orange one wore a long sleeved shirt that was light blue with a pair of pants that covered her legs. She also had a pair of tennis shoes on but were white.

"June I know, it sucks but we're at the bottom and a lot of inklings are trying to rank up fast," the orange one said as for June, the green one sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.

"For Kelp sake, she could have said something nicer than just walking out on us Sally," June remarked sounding quite annoyed about all of this.

"Geez June, ease on the jets. We'll find someone don't worry" Sally commented trying to calm her friend down but June wasn't having any of it.

"Ease up?! We're in weeks til the ranked matches start and you're telling me to ease up? We better find someone, else we're going nowhere" June had a slightly elevated voice out of her frustration. Truth be told, she hates to raise her voice. Though when she's the team caption and has had several inklings quit on her and the team.

"Hey, don't yell at me June. I'm trying to help, let's take a break for a bit and meet back at Shelly's and mine's place okay? I've gotta do a few things" Sally was wanting to give June some room to take a breather. When she always got hot tempered she always ended up making a fool of herself.

"Fine! Be like that" June said back as they both missed that there were darkening clouds as the sound of rain was coming.

"Oh geez, already this soon?" she groaned as Sally went onward to catch a bus before the rain hit. June herself stayed in the park with her umbrella up as she sighed. What was she to do, she had been trying for at least two years to get into a team but ended up not making it into a team. Make her own ragtag team and every time it seems to fail terribly. This was not turning into a good day. As she was walking down the path past the water fountain she looked to the side and saw a male inkling sitting there up against the tree. His messenger bag was on the side with his ink tank and splattergun. Who in their right mind would be out here in this rain? That was insane. She took a deep breath as she walked over and looked down at him moving her umbrella over him.

"Hey, are you okay there?" as she asked this Arthur looked up at her. Sure the rain helped to wash the tears but the reddened eyes were hard to get rid of.

"You tell me? Cause at this point I'm not so sure of myself. I can't seem to find myself anymore and no matter how hard I try to make a new me I can't seem to do it" he rambled a bit as trying not to lose it even further. June looked a bit oddly at Arthur as she listened to him with a raised eyebrow.

"I take it I'm not the only one with a bad day huh?" she said as she looked around. There was a gazebo not far from them as she points to it.

"Come on you sulking sack of ink, let's get ya out of this rain for starters" she offered him a hand though found he was not moving.

"Oh come on, you can't seriously want to sit out in this?" she asked a bit in disbelief as he looked at the hand.

"What's the point? I'm not worth a damn ounce of what I am now" as he spoke he waved his hand around trying to excuse her. Though her bossy nature got the better and grabbed his hand to pull him up.

"Well you may not be worth much, but you've got more weight there then ya let on" she poked at him a bit with her words as she motions him over to follow. He gave a heavy sigh as he got his things and followed her in the rain. The Gazebo was nice and dry, a good thing too as the wind was not blowing with this rain shower as both made their ways into the structure. She sat down on one side of the gazebo while he sat away from her with a heavy sigh. June puffed her cheeks as she got up with her closed umbrella and walks over to sit next to him.

"I don't think you want me poking around your personal business, but I know a lot of inklings that normally don't just sit in the rain for no reason" June commented as Arthur sighed heavily. Leaning back against the railing as he looked up at the ceiling.

"There's not much really to poke at. Everyone's doing a fantastic job of putting my life up on display already" he answered her as he still sounded distraught.

"What ya mean by that? Someone posting stuff about ya on the internet? Taking too many photos?" she was asking lots of typical questions for anyone trying to guess where he was coming from.

"I'm A Human. Or I freakin was. Now I'm… This thing. I hate it. I feel it like it's my skin but it's not. And the best part is I can say that til I'm blue in the face. But guess what? No one will Ever believe me. Cause Humans have been gone for thousands of years. We only find bones of them inside these strange pods. Yeah, that being out last ditch to save it. And obviously failed miserably" he fell silent for a moment as June was trying to process what he was saying. There was that find on Shell Mountain several months ago and then they recently came back to it now. Could that be the place?

"You mean that thing on Shell Mountain?" she asked as he nods a bit after she asks the question.

"Alright, so… I'm confused here. Why are you li-"

"Because I am this way! No one would ever believe me as none of the technology exists nor probably works to even show I'm a human what so ever. Cause all of it was destroyed. Lost literally to time" he cries to her as he was shaking a bit.

"Whoa hey geez didn't mean to upset you," she said as Arthur looked back at her.

"I joined that bloody project in hopes I could save my own civilization, something I failed to do with my sister" he mentions as that caught her attention. He had a sibling?

"A sister? I don't mean to pry but what happened?" June asked as she got the full story rather she liked it or not. As the story rolled out, she learned that Arthur had a sibling named Mary and lived with an abusive drunk father and a drug addicted mother. As he spoke he explained that they never were like this, the parents at least. It was only when the father tried to cheat for some extra cash he lost his entire job and reputation. Either way, the father always came home drunk for quite some time. Several years to be in fact as Arthur had to deal with this child of an adult and the abuse he got from it. On one particular evening, after the news started to broadcast that humanity may not survive the coming year as the weather had begun to shift so quickly with the rising sea levels, both Arthur and Mary were outside coming home after a walk around the subdivision they lived in. It was a pure joy being around Mary, especially around walks given she was about three years younger than him though had the sweetest smile anyone could give. That was taken away when their drunk father pulled back into the home and ran Mary over right in front of Arthur. It hurt, it visibly hurt as Arthur retold his story shaking as his hand gripped on the wooden seat of the gazebo.

"It wasn't long after that I-I got pulled into this program trying to save humanity. I wanted to make a difference, make up for what I had done to fail Mary" he was having some issues speaking as the tears came down harder as he felt more and more like a failure. June remained silent watching him trying to decide what to do next. She hates to raise her voice, but she had a huge hatred for seeing someone upset.

"And look at me now. Trapped in a body that doesn't feel like my own. All of humanity was gone. My sister is still gone. And I'm all that's left. And no one would believe me" he was going to say more until June stretched an arm out and pulled him in to hug him tightly.

"Shhhh, just be still" June was saying trying to calm him down now.

"I hear your pain. I can tell she meant a lot to you, your sister that is. But you've gotta move on. If she was here right now what would she want to see from you?" she asked as Arthur was thinking in between his tears. Mary always wanted to see him smiling just like her. She always wanted him to be strong even when things got rough. Would she want him happy even as this inkling?

"I'm not philosopher or psychiatrist, but I can tell ya this. Who you are on the outside, how you look shouldn't change who you are on the inside" she said as she rubs his head trying to comfort him. He kept quiet as his tears were slowly starting to dry up still remaining in the hug. It took a bit of time before he would finally speak backup.

"I… Thank you miss," he told her slowly pulling away from the hug as June looked at him curiously.

"You're welcome, I can't stand seeing people upset and one other thing" as she spoke she leaned over to hug him once more which Arthur looked at her a tad confused on the sudden gesture after she held him for so long.

"It doesn't matter if you're an inkling or a human you claim to be. What you do with yourself is your choice, so make it count alright?" she told him as he had to mull on the words.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right… I'm Arthur by the way" he told her as an introduction before she pulled away from the hug smiling.

"The name's June, nice to meet you Arthur" she greeted happily, she was just happy he was feeling a bit better than before.

"Nice to meet you then June," he remarked as he checked his phone. No new updates nor invites. He gave a soft sigh as June was looking over his shoulder.

"You expecting something?" she asked a tad curious as he looked over to her putting his phone away.

"Kinda. I'm trying to freelance but I've yet to really land on anyone wanting to let me on their team. I'm literally at the bottom of the stuff. Wet behind the ear you know?" he commented as June's face went from content to a smile.

"Oh? So you're looking for a team? Well, you can join us, if ya don't mind working with girls" she teased a bit as he chuckled.

"Oh sure, let me throw something into your plans to make them all crash and burn cause I'm a guy. No, I don't really care. Just know I have literally no experience with turf wars" he explained as she shrugged.

"Hey, it could be worse, Got at least one more month before the next season starts. I really wanna get out of D rank" she said with a sigh as Arthur gave a soft smile as he stood up. Seems the rain had let up as he got his stuff together with his messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

"Well, let's get your team together and try our best how about that?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure let's have ya meet the girls," June said as she got up and walked with him holding her umbrella in hand.

It was a short call from June to get the crew together at the tower. When Arthur finally met Sally and Shelly, he realized the two were siblings. Only a years difference as Shelly was the younger. She was a bit shorter with orange hair, though she had white skin, unlike her older sibling Sally. Shelly wore a hoodie with a pair of pants though which meant she had herself just as covered as her sister. The three gals had similar weapon ranks but they varied. June had a splattershot pro, Sally had a splat roller while Shelly had a splattershot. And here's Arthur with a splattershot, they may be a good team if things work out alright. They were set up for a match and soon sent off. It was a ranked match just so they can see how they would work together. It seemed to Arthur that the two sister inklings were pretty good at working together along with June. Arthur was an outlier that kept around them picking off any inklings that tried to get too close to his teammates at a distance. He realized that the range was not overly powerful, but considering most of the other inklings were having issues getting to him, it was nice either way. Though he excludes that one time during the match an inkling caught him by surprise. The first time he ever got splatted too, it was a weird feeling being sent back to spawn and then having to head back up. The match went well with his team winning the turf match which made them all happy with joy. This was certainly a good day to start off the ranking career.

After about six matches the youngest in the group was wearing down and was wanting to break for the day. They were all nearly out of rank D which they could at this rate get into C rank by tomorrow if all pans out. The girls did swap ID info with Arthur so they could keep tabs on him and he could keep tabs on them as well. As they all had just finished playing a game as green, their tentacle hairs were still green while the gal's eyes being green. Though Arthur's eyes still remained ocean blue. It would soon just be June and Arthur as she stretched smiling from ear to ear.

"Wow, Arthur never thought you would be that good with the splattershot. You sure you've never fired one of those things?" she asked as Arthur gave a nervous chuckle.

"I've had some practice. Trust me, I've had plenty of practice" he gave a half truth there. He did know how to shoot a gun and place a shot with a bow and a rifle. Scoped rifles were something he never really played with. Though he got the basic idea of it pretty quickly as he was using the splattershot. Same concept for the splattershot as a rifle would that he could figure out.

June rolled her eyes with a smile, "Well alright, you keep up with what you're doing and we'll keep up what we're doing. See ya here tomorrow?" she asked curiously as he nods.

"Yup, I'll be here tomorrow" he smiled as he stretched his arm a bit.

"Alright, see you then. Going to head on home. Catch ya later!" she walked off with a wave as they parted ways. Arthur gave a small sigh as he watched her go away. He felt a bit better now that he was on some sort of team and could drown out the human discovery for the day. Though something told him that if something were to happen to him, he would be replaced. It was a gut feeling as this team was a total stranger to him not like he networked through Bianca to find a team.

"Well look who's made it out of the ink in one piece" Bianca's voice could be heard as she came up on Arthur's backside. Bianca was getting off on her matches for the day with her team. She was just happy that he was still standing at least.

"Oh hey, Bianca. Yeah finally ran into a team that needed someone and they decided to let me in. Nearly out of D rank, at this rate I'll be in C- rank in no time" he told her with a smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't get cocky, winners can't always win all the time" she remarked poking his cheek.

"One day you can be on top of the world and then next thing you know you're at the bottom. Just be ready for either case alright?" she told him before he starts to swat off her hand from his cheek. It was more of a playful smack then something aggressive.

"Alright, alright I'll keep that in mind. So heading on home too?" he asked her curious as she nods.

"Mhm, though we'll probably need to grab something to eat as mom won't be in til later from her work and what not," she said as he gave a sigh.

"Oh right, yeah she digs up humans. Right..." his voice trailed a bit as he did his best to ignore the notions that some inklings were making about the discovery today. The one about the cell he was inside that kept him going for so long. She sighed and pats his shoulder knowing it had to be bothering him.

"Hey, don't need to worry about it too much. You already had a good day out and about and won some turf wars. Let's leave it on a high note alright?" she asked as Arthur gave a nod.

"Right, so what will it be tonight?" he asked as they were walking together heading for a convenient store.

"Ramen sounds good to you?" she asked as he nearly gagged up front.

"Ramen?!" nearly twelve thousand years after humans invented that god awful thing and inklings managed to reinvent it? Geez, this is terrible. He opted to just make a sandwich back home instead but tagged along with her at the store. What caught him by surprise was finding a box of wafer cookies in the shape of a stick and had chocolate over them. A 'Pocky' as they called it as they found similar packaging with some of the human remains seeing that the idea was there and the concept sounded good. He bought several boxes without warning and took them home in his messenger bag. At least something that could remind him of home.

The two inklings would return home and break for dinner as they would find something to eat at the house. Bianca had ramen noodles while Arthur toasted up some bread and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, actually having found what other things inklings ate and had in the pantry. It was starting to get late when finally Grace came home as she came through the front door of the condo, there was something she was carrying. Looked a bit bulky in a large box.

"Arthur! Bianca! I'm home!" she called out as the two inklings were discussing various weapons and techniques that could be used by them. He had to get his hands on one of those E-liter 3Ks at some point. Looked like a supped up sniper rifle for sure.

"Yeah, mom what is it?" Bianca called out as she was leaving her room with Arthur close behind. When both arrived in the living room they would find Grace a tad dirty from the work she was doing out in the field, the few times she is out in the field, with a rather interesting case that was probably a good four feet in length, two feet wide and depth was at least a foot. It had a curved portion and also seemed to have a carry handle. Arthur looked at Grace a tad odd when he saw it, having some ideas what it already is.

"Is this from..." Arthur was asking as Grace gave a small smile.

"I was with the research team when we went out to Shell Mountain and explored that ruin we had found. The one my daughter pulled you from and found a new room we had not seen before. I have to admit a lot of my colleagues were thinking it would be another room in ruin. No, it was mostly intact, old and weathered but still intact. We found this in under the pod" she said as her daughter looked confused.

"Uhm mom, aren't you suppose to leave those things at work? It's really old stuff mom, why did you bring it here?" she asked as her mother answered looking to her.

"It was something we found inscribed on it. Something you told me when you brought Arthur home" Grace would turn her attention to Arthur with a directed question.

"Now, what was your name now? Arthur Sketch-something?" she asked trying to remember it, though had figured his name out.

"Arthur Sketchpad, why are you bring this up?" he asked as Grace placed the case on the coffee table and shined a light on the case as she wiped away a bit more at a certain spot. Both Arthur and Bianca looked as Bianca's eyes went wide, Arthur gave a soft sigh. There was a tag on it that had a name engraved on it. The tag read 'Arthur Sketchpad Pod 275'.

"Is this yours I may ask?" Grace asked as he nods.

"It is… Though why did you bring it here? You didn't tell them about me did you?" he asked her a tad worried as Graced scratched the side of her cheek as she was thinking how to phrase it.

"Yes, I did. I told them what had happened thus far with how my daughter found you and current condition up till now. They asked me a question to ask you about, stuff that was found in the ruins near the other pods" she spoke as Arthur waited for her question.

"It's only one question and it pertains to this item inside the container. They had found plenty of odd looking mechanical machines, they appeared to look like splatterguns and splatters used in turf wars but lacking in any sort of ink. Just small capsules of metal and lead. This one consists of strings, what we can determine wheels on a bow shape with metal shafts with something that resided on one end and a sharp tip on the other. What were these things supposed to be Arthur?" she asked as Bianca was watching and listening. He took a deep breath trying to collect himself on how best to explain it. By what he can tell, they were possibly not akin to the idea of battles ending in people dying. Not turf wars where people were inked and then sent back to a respawn.

"What you're describing is a gun. A gun is a weapon humans used, the idea originally was to help bring down larger food targets down easier than simply bows and arrows. However, when industrialization occurred, humans started to use guns as a means to kill each other. Needless to say what you found is a tool meant to kill life not give it" as he spoke it was a bit of a shocker for Bianca as she was hearing this. So those things she thought were just pieces of odd machinery were meant to kill? Grace had the hunch they may have been used for such things, but never had any good idea how.

"Heck humans waged wars over resources as we had so little. When really we had enough to go around. We had enough we all could survive, but no gotta have it all. They looked for such meaningless things and materials they missed their own demise. They buried themselves and unfortunately it doomed us all" he gave a heavy sigh as he spoke a little bit about his perspective on what had happened in human history.

"I see, that's even a bit more outlandish than I would've imagined. I would love to ask more, but you never told me what this item was" Grace said as she opened the box. Inside was a rusted compound bow, the strings a complete mess. The frame was rusted out and there was a quiver that had a few arrows in it, the quiver was degraded and so were the arrows. Even the 'feathers' at the ends had disintegrated from the time spent.

"That is a bow. It's meant to end a life too as it launches arrows via the string. Pull the arrow back with the string and let go to send the arrow flying. It's a weapon too" he said as Grace nods.

"I'm aware what a bow is, we made crude ones when we first started to rise up as a civilization. Why does this one have wheels? Some of my team thinks it's some sort of string instrument but can't prove it" she asked as Bianca remained silent as she was listening and absorbing what Arthur was saying.

"It's a compound bow. Bows are as strong as the arms of the bow are and the string that holds it together. A compound bow allows a user to have a powerful bow without needing a huge long bow to produce the same power. Smaller, light weight while still packing the punch" as he spoke this Grace hit a eureka moment then it makes much more sense. Would have to get her team to try re-creating one just for simulation purposes.

"Ah, that explains a lot. Thank you for the information, Arthur. I wanted to ask that question to you" Grace said as she left the box open with the degraded bow inside.

"Take it you're going to take it back?" he asked her as she nods.

"Yes though I wanted to ask your permission as well. The bow is yours by name association and figured you would have a better idea what it really is" Grace said as Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Could have not told him and just studied it yourselves mom" Bianca muttered as her mother gave her a frustrated look.

"No, I don't mind if you guys keep it. Study it if you wish just be aware, it's mean to kill when aimed at something. Physical damage. I just hope you guys don't dig too much into human history. It's already dark enough as is" Arthur added as Grace nods closing the box up. When she does she would come around and gives him a quick hug.

"I appreciate it thank you. I also apologize for bringing up bad memories" Grace added as Arthur sighed.

"It's best for now just to accept it. The past can't be changed at this point" he told her as he gave a half hug before she pulled away putting the box to the side. After that, she yawned looking at the time, was nearly eleven at night. With a yawn, she stretched.

"I'll be heading to bed soon after grabbing a shower. You two don't stay up all night alright?" Grace said as Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah mom, we'll be fine," Bianca said as her mother walked off with another yawn to get a shower. She looked over at Arthur who was still looking at the case that held the bow with a silence to him. She would place a hand on his shoulder patting his back feeling he needed it.

"I thought humans were some crazy looking nonsquid that lived before us and were possibly as peaceful as us. I didn't realize that they were that violent" she trailed off not sure what to really say.

"Conflicts can be avoided if you're willing to work together and willing to trust in another to give something to them. I detest violence and murder. The turf wars today for me I had to picture them as just games and simply a way to kill time. A game, not really a fight to survive or fighting over a resource. All humans were not violent, just remember that" he told her looking over to her with a half smile. It took her a few moments to register it but she nods.

"Right, well we better head to bed. It's gonna be another day tomorrow and we should rest up" she said as she turned to head back to her room to get ready for bed. Arthur sat there a bit longer looking at the case thinking. He was told they would most likely need the stuff to survive if they stayed for a long period of time, possibly apocalypse scenario and having to fend for yourself. He chose a bow as he could possibly reuse arrows if he can get them back without any damage. He never imagined that he would not need it given how long he was in the pod. In a way, he was sad that he hadn't died with rest of the project as he may miss the torture of being alone. But same time, he did not want to think about being betrayed by another simply to survive and left all alone to die. Both were bad, though seeing he was here it only seemed reasonable that he lives with what he's got.

The next three weeks went by nearly like a blur as Arthur and the team he was with were scaling the ranks fast. Going up a full letter rank every week was insane though they had their challenges here and there. Running into a team that was either strong for them or having trouble with map layouts. Arthur also ran into various modes of turf wars, like one that contested a device called a rainmaker getting it to point to point and covering turf as they went. The girls he was with all were able to upgrade their weapons finding better tools to ink the turf. June moved up to using a heavy splatling deco making her much more aggressive on the field. Shelly grabbed an Areospray PG that she had painted pink and Sally got a dynamo roller which was quite the powerhouse though slow. Arthur was the only one that had kept his splattershot thick and through getting quite fast at the draw and tossing his bombs around when he needed some cover. The team was doing fairly well, though he felt still not a part of said team. Just helping them out and getting ranked while he was helping them as much. But in the end, he was on a team right? Today felt a tad different as Arthur woke up not having much of an appetite, felt a tad weird and a little warm to the head. At this point in time, the tournament to see who was the best was about to come around the corner. Literally two days away counting this day. And at the moment, he and the team were at B+ and about to enter into A ranks. The tournament ran in all divisions but the biggest name recognition was when you were in A ranks and up. There were some rare weapons up for grab and some cash prizes for winning your rank. Of course, Arthur wanted to get into it, though he felt a tad off as he got dressed wearing a pair of cargo shorts, a white t-shirt with a turf war logo on it. His vest and scarf he left off as he tossed his hat on, messenger bag, ink tank and splattershot as he heads out after waving to Bianca and Grace. Seemed today was a mother and daughter day as the two were socializing. Bianca was already in A rank so her place in the tournament was already set so her team decided to take a break for a bit. Man, he felt hot as he got onto the train and went out. As he rode the train, his phone buzzed for a moment as he looked down to see a text message via his turf app. The app mainly worked as a link between an inkling's turf ID and their personal PC, tablet, and cellphone so they can keep track with what's going on and talk to others without pulling their ID card out. He was surprised to see it was Marie or 'Molly' that had sent him something. It was a message congratulating him on how much he's progressed since they spoke on his first full day in inkpolios. Never imagined she'd actually message him, he didn't message her period given her status as a squid sister figured she was a busy inkling star. But he replied with a thank you and telling her he hopes will make it to -A rank by the end of today. He figured he would not hear anything back from her as she was probably back doing whatever she was needing to do. Today was gonna be a big day, unfortunately, in ways, he's not aware of.

About two matches in for the day, nearly to the next rank the crew was together working out where they would be going to next. Though one of the attendants that were working in the tower, a jelly wearing a t-shirt handed them all waivers to be signed to be filmed. This was a tad odd as not many times inklings had to sign such forms unless…

"Wait, are we being recorded for something?" June asked as she had a hand on her hip looking at the clipboard.

"Well, yes you are. Actually televised, this match is the match the Squid Sister's want to broadcast out on the TV this afternoon live" the jelly said as Shelly's eyes grew wide.

"Callie and Marie are gonna be watching?!" she nearly squealed as her sister Sally had to keep her held down so she wouldn't bounce everywhere.

"They'll be there in person watching and commentating. I figured they wanted to show some possible rising stars as you four have done nearly the impossible of raising your ranks so quickly in such a short time" the jelly added as he waited for the forms to return. Arthur was taking some time to sign it as he was having some focusing issues but managed to sign and hand it in along with the rest of the girls.

"Hey Arthur, you alright? You don't look so good" June asked looking at him a tad concerned as Arthur looked back at her. He was leaning against the wall trying to not move so much and stay cool in the AC room.

"Me? I'm fine, just the heat outside has got me in a tizzy. It's one of those hot days ya know?" he commented as it was a hot day agreed as June shrugged.

"Alright, but after this match, we're stopping for the day. If you're like this now, I don't want to think how you'll be afterwards" June commented as it was time for them to sync up. Seems they were Red for the day. Arthur synced up and went into the pipe that went out to their spawn point. It was indeed gonna be a long match.

Both teams were good as the squid sisters ran their show covering the match as it was underway, a good practice run of what was to come when the tournament kicked off. Pre-tournament matches ya know and all. Though it was a tad noticeable on Arthur as he was missing a few shots here and there. A bit unsure if it was because the enemy team was harder to hit or he was having trouble remaining focused. He did drop out of view occasionally as he coughed a bit realizing his condition was worsening. Though he kept pushing onward as they were close to winning, Arthur was splatted on the last minute but his team ends up winning the match as both sisters were congratulating them for the win after the result came out.

"Fantastic job you all, biggest rising stars this side of inkopolios had ever seen" Callie commented with a smile as she spoke to the camera with Marie beside her.

"Indeed, a bunch of wet behind the tentacle inklings managed to work their way from the bottom of the pool and now are right in the next rank. You think this team could win the whole thing? Marie asked her cousin while on camera as her sis laughed.

"Now don't ya start placing bets just yet, we gotta see if they'll survive their own new rank now. Buuuut that's all the time we got now" Callie said as both the squid sisters smiled at the camera.

"Stay fresh!" both squid sisters said before ending their show on a high note. June and her team were off to the side of the squid sisters as they were wrapping up. Shelly couldn't contain her excitement as Callie was her idol as June liked Callie for her attitude and Sally liked Marie for her laid-back sense of style.

"Alright guys, we finally made it to -A rank," June said with a smile as the two sisters cheered, Arthur, on the other hand, was leaning against the railing his splattershot almost holding him up.

"Yay! And we got to see the Squid sisters in person yay!" Shelly smiled as Sally shook her head.

"I swear if I knew you were my sister I would say you've got more energy then a zapfish right now," Sally remarked with a small smile. The two sisters would walk over to the three girls to speak to them with a smile from Callie.

"Nice work making it up this far, though I gotta ask the question off camera. I remember seeing you time and time again in the low ranks, how did you get up this far?" Callie asked rather curiously as June smiled.

"Well, you can say we finally got good. Though I have to think our newest team member, Arthur Ske-" her statement cut short when there was a clank of something dropping and a thud of a something. June was turning her gaze over along with the squid sisters as they saw Arthur on the ground shivering.

"Whoa, didn't see that coming," Callie remarked as her sister looked in shock.

"Whoa, what happened to him?" Marie asked as June rushed over to try waking him up.

"I don't know, he's been acting funny all day today. Said it was the heat. Oh wow! He's literally burning up here! We need to get him to a doc fast" June said as she felt his forehead being burning hot with a high fever.

It was not for several hours before Arthur woke back up after having passed out. He was under a blanket as he had a cool rag on his forehead. He was laying down on his bed back at Bianca's home as he shifts a bit groaning. He felt like literal crap now. A full-on train wreck. Bianca was passing the room to check up on Arthur as she saw he was awake and rushed in as he tried to get up.

"Hey, easy there you stupid squid," she said trying to get him to lay down by simply pressing on his shoulders which worked well seeing he barely had any strength in him.

"Owww, why so hard?" he groaned as he looked up at her.

"If you were on my team I would be grilling you up and down right now. Your team kind of up and left ya at this point. Figured for June, self-interested in her own gain then others" Bianca muttered as Arthur caught that part about June.

"I take it you know her?" he asked as she sighed with a nod.

"Unfortunately yes. I made the dumb mistake of letting her on my team when Rick came up sick. She was decent, but she always ended up bossy and wanting to be in the limelight" she took a thermometer and stuck it in his mouth to check his temp before pulling it out to find it was still really hot.

"Yup still got that fever. Geez, what were you thinking out there? You're lucky as heck me and mom saw it and noticed your state. We were trying to get to that place before the match ended" she commented as Arthur sighed.

"S-Sorry. I didn't want to let the team down. I thought it was just something off like I woke up on the wrong side" he coughed covering his mouth as he groaned. Bianca sighed as she heard him.

"Seriously Arthur you need to watch yourself. Sure you're an inkling but you're actions are turning more reckless with each day. It's gonna get you hurt, if not worse your team" she sounded as though she was scolding him and rightfully so.

"Hey I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen" his voice was trying to raise up but came out as a rasp and he coughed hard covering his mouth.

"Didn't mean for this? You nuts?!" Bianca was still annoyed at him but a knock on the door drew her attention elsewhere. It was a surprise seeing Marie was at the home too. She was not in her usual flashy dress but a pair of baggy tan pants and a green hoodie with a white shirt in under the hoodie as she looked at him.

"I think you should let him rest a bit unless you wanna share whatever he's got with your team" Marie commented with her arms crossed as Bianca sighed.

"Fine, I think you were wanting to chat with him anyways," Bianca said as she got up and went for the door looking at Marie. It felt weird for her to have a squid sister in her home for the moment. Seemed he had made some sort of impression on her to make her stick around. Marie would nod taking the chair at the desk and bring it up to the bed so she can sit down to chat once Bianca had left. There was a momentary pause as Arthur felt he was going to get scolded by her too.

"Well, when I told you that you were something special, I hadn't intended it to be like this" she broke the silence watching him grimace and looking to the side.

"But, you've been quite the remarkable inkling on the field. Easily making your way around the ranks and climbing up fast. Much faster than I had imagined even. Though I guess I should fill you in on what you missed since you blacked out huh?" she asked having her arms crossed in front of her as Arthur sighed.

"I know I ended up here and apparently the team I was with ditched me," he said as Marie nods.

"Bingo. For a moment I thought that team caption had her head on straight after three years trying to get into A rank. Nope, still misses the big picture. Could have thrown the match right then and there and not lose her rank and give you time to recover" Marie commented as she looked to the side at the window. The lack of sunlight indicated it was late at night with his bedside lamp on.

"Bianca and her mother came over to the match site just shortly after you went down. I think they realized something was wrong from the start. I road along with them canning the stuff I had planned tonight, no major air time was planned so nothing major. Callie was not too happy with me on it but I needed to ask a question which you already answered" she said as he looked puzzled at her.

"And what was that?" he asked as she looked back at him with a small smile.

"You went down cause you were wanting your team to win and not because you wanted the air time or seeing me and Callie. Any inkling would literally throw themselves at us if they had the chance" her voice remained calm as she spoke chewing on her words.

"But I do agree with Bianca while overhearing you two, what you did was reckless. Could have collapsed during the match which would've thrown you guys out immediately not to mention have your name plastered everywhere so no one would really want to recruit you" she spoke to the point as it made his stomach tighten up. Was he seriously that close to literally ruining his outward image? Who cares about the camera lens, what you do with yourself is what you do right? Let others judge ya by works, not for an image.

"So was that all? Just wanted to ask me that question?" he sounded puzzled as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Well considering I hadn't heard from you in sometime made me wonder why there was such a silence. Most Inklings, especially guys, would be trying to talk to me nearly all the time. You've not done that, figured you swing the other way or something or another. Checked your rank this morning and found you were B+ and close to A- which had me impressed" she added as Arthur raised an eyebrow. So she was expecting him to spam her with messages? That was a rather odd thing to hear. More than likely she wouldn't reply to any of them though.

"So yes, was looking for a bit of an excuse to say hello to you. I was just not expecting that excuse turning into a moment when you nearly embarrassed yourself on TV" she continued hands now in her pockets looking at him.

"Yeah, go figure my luck frowned on me today" he groaned as she smirked.

"Well, everyone's luck runs out eventually Arthur and considering where you've come from. Your luck spans more years than anyone has combined" she commented as it took a few moments before Arthur's heart sank as he looked at her in slight terror.

"What's that look for? I talked to Bianca and her mother they already told me about your past thus far. Which does explain a lot if it's all true given your conditioning, marksmanship and how you view things. You view teams like an adult and see the value of teamwork, though you're still new to working in a team thus you're not communicating well enough to getting the idea what to do. You just go out on your own and keep those you're with safe" she analyzed as she got a lot of Arthur's own behaviorism down in one sentence while on the field.

"I'm not gonna tell people about that though. Just get some rest Arthur" she said getting up as she moves the chair back to where it belonged before making her way to the door.

"Oh one question, is Sketchink really your last name you put down?" she asked a tad curious as he shakes his head.

"It's originally Sketchpad which was changed from Long. I only changed it to Sketchpad cause of my sister always called me Arthur Sketchy or Art-Sketchy" he shifted a bit as Marie was thinking.

"Art Sketchpad. Hm, I like the Art part same with the Sketchpad. Rather different. I'll see ya around Art, don't be scared to send me a message" she nods to him before turning the corner and leaving him be. Marie would excuse herself from the condo thanking Grace for the hospitality she gave as she went on her own way. Arthur was left mulling her words a bit. She was fine talking to him or at least messaging him from time to time. Now she also knows he wasn't exactly an inkling to start off with either, but she's handling it quite fine. He gave a soft sigh as he looked up at the ceiling as he pondered what was to happen tomorrow. There was a good chance that he was not going to be able to compete despite the fact he was in ranks. But oh well, mother nature always had her own plans that are beyond what anyone can understand. Maybe once he's better he'll find a better team to join up with. His track record already has enough stuff in it to show he's quite capable with the splattershot that he has now. Imagine if he had a better weapon to work with while on the field. He closed his eyes this time around to rest shivering as he was greeted this time to much more pleasant dreams of what's happened over the month since he's been here. Sure he's sick, but so far he's been doing well so far. What could possibly happen next?


	3. Chapter 3

It sucked as Arthur sat there on the couch as he watched the TV screen as the tournament was going on. He was of rank, he was good to go. But he couldn't participate one bit as he was ill. He was at least feeling a tad bit better then from the other day. He chewed it in his mind for a bit about what Marie had mentioned to him. It was a plus that she was at least as friendly in person as she was on screen. Though she did seem a tad grumpy if poked a bit to much which he found out while texting her yesterday. She'll forgive him right? Though he sighed as school was about to come up which as he found out he had to attend. Back to the middle school with him despite the fact he had the mental age of an eighteen year old. This was going to drive him up the wall for sure.

Though what sucked more was the fact he could not write worth the life of him. Given he was wired to understand the phonetics of their language by the AI that mutated him. He learned to read as he was association symbols with the words that were associated with them. Not really understanding what he was seeing and sure as heck had no idea how to write it. Grace took the week off and decided to drill Arthur over this week to make sure he could write properly. And it was getting to the time that Grace would try throwing him a writing assignment. And on cue there she was.

"Alright Arthur, don't want to strain you too much but want you to work on this little assignment okay?" she asked handing over a worksheet with various sentences to correct grammatically and the backside having mathematics on it.

"Okay, I'm just glad I'm feeling better though honestly this feels weird" he admits as he sits up on the couch, legs under a blanket as he wore his original t-shirt with paint splotches on it. Wearing shorts underneath the blanket as he was working on it.

"What feels weird? The fact you're already getting schooled a week before classes, or see something odd?" Grace asked walking to the kitchen area as she was working on some soup for the two of them. Bianca was out of the condo for the tournament which they were progressing pretty well in.

"The fact that this looks so familiar to me. It's too easy for me, the writing part is what's killing me" he commented as he was working the sheet.

"Well I can see what happens if you excel fast enough, could see if you could graduate out early I suppose. I was expecting whatever change happened to you before waking up would keep you the same age" she commented as he shakes his head.

"I know right? I'm not sure what that system was thinking. Maybe it copied a bit of the DNA that regarded the individual's age and I took it" he sighed as he was working the worksheet a tad slowly trying to get his writing down right.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine Arthur either way. You've made it this far" she smiled as the door knocked. Both looked at the door curiously as Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Wonder who that is," she said putting the soup on for it to cook as she answers the door. She gasped as there was a male inkling about her size standing there with a tropical shirt on and shorts. The man had purple hair with his two tentacles held in a low ponytail as he wore square framed glasses.

"Oh, honey you're home early!" she exclaimed overjoyed as she hugged and kissed the man that was her husband. He would return the hug and kiss as one hand was rolling a suitcase.

"Mmm Good to see you too dear. Kelton let me head home early off of the trip after we landed the deal. It's great to be home" the man said walking into his home as he noticed Arthur watching them both. Arthur could obviously deduce that this had to be Bianca's father or assumed, not sure if Bianca was part of a split family or not.

"I assume this is the boy you told me about?" the man asked looking to Grace as she nods.

"Yes, he is. He's been ill for the past few days and is slowly recovering" she said worried that her husband may not like their new 'guest'. Though honestly, Grace had hoped to have a sort of son to have around the home and Arthur filled that bill.

"Well, he's got the best spot in the house to watch the tournaments" the husband joked as he looked to the TV and saw what was on.

"I'll introduce myself, I'm Cecil a pleasure finally meeting you" Cecil introduced himself as Arthur nods.

"The name's Arthur, and likewise. I assume you do business work huh?" Arthur asked as Cecil chuckled.

"More like sales pitches for building contracts to get things built. With space as limited as they are, we have to use what land we got reasonably else we waste it" he said as he stretched smelling the air.

"Something burning?" Cecil asked as Grace looked at the kitchen. The soup was boiling over.

"Oh no the soup!" Grace shouted as she ran over to try saving her creation and lunch. Well, guess it was burned soup for lunch for all three of them.

The days rolled by fast as Bianca would come home the next day sulking as her team only got to the semi-finals before being knocked out of the winnings. Not to mention they were so close to hitting -S rank. Though her attitude changed when she saw her father was home which cheered her up. Seeing the family together, a happy one, put a smile on his face as he was finally beating his illness after a week of having it. Just in time for school, which don't get Arthur started on it. There were nearly a million questions he had to fill out and try to plug holes into as he was in school with both students and teachers. Students wanted to know where he had come from while teachers were baffled with what he already knew about certain topics while still being clueless to inkling history and humans. It was tough, to say the least, but he was making it. Though the one thing he found oddly nice was the fact he had to wear a uniform for school which was different, to say the least for him. It gave a bit more of a structured feel for the classroom environment along with inklings and other species. Oh yes, Arthur was finally starting to see various other types of sea folk, ranging from fish, crustaceans, anemones and even a few eels here and there. What made him more surprised that there were much more squids than the other species and not seeing a single octopus. History class gave him a re-cap of why there were no octarians on the surface as they lost the great turf war for control of the remaining land after the ocean level rose up. Kinda sad that neither race has gotten into a peaceful truce to try sharing the land they do have. Though the weeks have passed thus far and he's gotten into the swing of doing school, homework, and then turf wars. Seeing he was now -A rank, he was much closer in the league with Bianca and her friends who were now just A ranks. They could party up with Arthur for a match in his rank but one would sit out as there were five of them. So each of the Inklings rotated out working with Arthur as he progressed as a better player. He was learning how to use an Inkbrush, namely a Nouveau Inkbrush as Arthur tended to play more a defensive way when he had the brush. The brush to him felt more like an overgrown art brush that he used a roller and complimented his ability to traverse the turf well. He's still wondering if there was a way to make himself slide much easier to save momentum if he slides by someone with his brush. Granted, he seemed to know how to really use the brush for close quarters, but he needed to close that distance first to do so. Having a technique down to move around the enemy fire would be beneficial. He was still learning needless to say given the number of times he's been splatted.

And speaking of splats, splatfest was just around the corner which the squid sisters had revealed the theme was rollers and chargers. Which was the best, rollers or chargers. Bianca had to explain it to him exactly what a splatfest was. Pretty much, pick a team, sign up and fight for that team on the day of splatfest. The one with the most wins is the winner. It's open for all ranks so someone could be at the very bottom meet someone from the utmost top rank. Meant all for fun though Arthur was still contemplating if he should give it a try or just shrug it off. He liked charger weapons for their range and stopping power. But he was finding the rollers were quite powerful at closer range, covers well, and not to mention this brush he had was absolutely a delight as an artist himself. So it was a hard decision and even on the last day of signing up he was torn. Maybe he could do a late entry or something if that was possible if he asked Marie. But for now, Arthur and Bianca were heading back home after a good evening of turf wars. For the most part, he was doing fairly well with Cecil though there was that still little bit of trust that had yet to form. This was tested when the two came home and heard Cecil joking around with someone quite the raised voice. Both inklings would come into the condo to find Cecil sitting on the couch with a co-worker of his and a few beers on the table. They both looked pretty plastered as the two were just enjoying a sports game on the TV. Both were jabbering along as Bianca giggled a bit finding the two's actions a tad funny as her mother was at the kitchen table reading a magazine keeping an eye on the two men seeing they were under the influence. But for Arthur, it was a whole different story. His mind associated the smell of alcohol with his drunk abusive father. The swearing, the arguments, and the yelling that went along with it. As Bianca stayed for a moment to see what the two adults were watching, Arthur made a B-line to his room and closed the door. He really didn't want to be in the same home with someone under the influence. Sure they may be a good person inside, it still just bothered him deeply.

"Hm? That's odd, Bianca is Arthur alright? I've never seen him act that way before" Grace asked her daughter as she did notice his much quieter greeting. Normally he would say something to her before turning in but this was unusual.

"I'm not sure Mom, today was an alright day. Nothing too major or rough. Heck, even the turf wars he got into were not too bad" Bianca shrugged as both were baffled by the behavior.

Arthur really didn't stir much as he was in his room looking on the laptop that Grace had given him to do school work on. Sadly the two in the living room still kept going as the game went on. He was doing his best to keep his mind clear of his past but he couldn't hold it back. When there was a bad call made by a referee, this sent both men into a stir as they started shouting at the TV. Grace had to step in to try to get the two men to calm down given they lived in a condo and there were people living around them. The muffled shouting pushed Arthur over the edge as he got up from his desk. He had tan brown cargo pants on, a white t-shirt with a turf war logo on it as he slips his old jacket on, hat and tentacle scarf. He grabbed his messenger bag as well that still had his ink tank and inkbrush still attached slinging that over his shoulder and across. Opening a window he looked around for a way down seeing they were up a few floors, the third floor to be exact. He saw an open downspout that went to the ground level. Taking a deep breath, he jumped into the pipe as a squid and slid down. It was a tight fit but he got out into the cool autumn night. He felt bad for doing this, but on this Friday night he needed some distance and with someone drinking to that excess always made him nervous to be around. About thirty minutes passed as Bianca would walk into the kitchen wearing pants and a blue overcoat as she looked at her mother who was now at the kitchen table.

"Hey mom, I'm gonna check on Arthur. He's been too quiet for too long and I think he would enjoy going out to see a movie if you're fine with that" Bianca asked as Grace nods.

"Yes I'm fine with that, just be safe out there and call when you make it to the theater and when you're coming back alright?" Grace asked as her daughter nods. Bianca would then turn back to the hallway and knock on Arthur's door.

"Hey, Arthur! Wanna catch a movie tonight? Got some tickets lined up with some friends tonight" she listened expecting to answer the door but no answer. She knocks again a bit harder.

"I know you can't be asleep right now. Can you even hear me?" she asked a bit louder and still no response.

"Okay I'm coming in you little..." her voice trailed off opening the door and finding no one there. Literally, no one was in the room except the cool breeze from the window. She got worried immediately.

"MOM! Arthur's missing!" Bianca shouted as Grace stopped reading as she looked back towards the hallway her daughter was in.

"What are you talking about?" Grace's voice sounded worried as she got up heading for Arthur's room. Finding it empty they both were worried sick. Where was he? Did he seriously just run away from home? So many questions were flying in their heads that it was insane.

It was about ten at night as Arthur took the tram to the central plaza in inkopolis. He wanted some fresh air and some time to his own thoughts. He sighed resting his head on the tram window as he rides along. This was stupid, he should have told them he wanted some time alone instead of just ditching the way he did. He knew, either way, he would have to explain that the drinking made him uncomfortable which spoils Cecil and his plans for fun. It was unneeded in Arthur's opinion, though his mind drifted back to home as it was quite strange being out here in a completely different time. The tram stopped at the plaza as he paid his dues and got off the tram station. One of the last trams for the night as things were closing down early for a busy day in the plaza. Apparently splatfest happens in the plaza with a stage being erected for a live performance from the squid sisters themselves to celebrate the entire event and encouraging for the friendly competition. He went to the plaza as he looked around in the dark though a few street lamps were on illuminating the signs and setups. He gave a soft sigh as something nearly magical seemed to brim from all of this. Something like a concert setup before it even started, such as seeing the stage of a major music festival before the bands and acts start. He walked around the stage to see the backside and could see a tank full of zapfish swimming around. Seemed the little guys did need to change out every now and then to keep the stage powered. He found this out the fast way when he realized the great zapfish powered most of the homes, buildings, the infrastructure of Inkopolis while other smaller items such as stages were powered by zapfish. Other smaller devices ran off of rechargeable batteries like his phone, that he forgot to charge, and laptop as examples. He smiled a bit tapping the glass to see the zapfish swim up to him and smile seeming to recognize him or recognize he was an inkling. There seemed to be no staff members around as it looked to be quite late which made him worried when he heard a noise coming from the stage area as he looked over to investigate. He was quiet as he saw someone he had never seen before wiring something up. It was a female from what he could tell from the backside wearing a black tank top with a metal breast plate. Short red shorts and black sneakers. She seemed to be carrying a splattershot but was colored black and purple. What made him stare more was her hair, they were tentacles but were more akin to an octopus than an inkling.

"Stupid inklings, this should put an end to this splatfest. One zapfish gets wired into this, and these capacitors will blow every circuit on stage as soon as they turn it on" the gal giggled in a devilish manner. More a mischief that was causing trouble than good as Arthur frowned.

"Hey, I don't think you should be messing with that" he called out to her which caused her to pause and look back at him. She was wearing a pair of goggles that covered her eyes with a purple dot in the middle. A red tentacle from her head was over one eye as she pushed it back with a smile.

"Oh and why not? You gonna stop me kid?" she taunted as she smiled.

"I've always heard inklings are easy pushovers unlike octarians such as myself, so let's test that theory" with that she pulled her splattershot and started firing at him with purple ink. Arthur had to take a few steps back to avoid getting hit as he pulled his inkbrush out.

"Octarian? Well, this is a first" he commented as he would try to go after her slinging ink in her general direction covering up her ink with his green ink before she started to dash off quickly.

"Come on, coming at me with a brush your an idiot" she called throwing a bomb at him as Arthur ran after her. It was a delayed bomb that would most likely splat him as he takes his brush to swat it away before it went off still hot on her heels. She snarled at this, that should have worked.

"Come on, you're the one that started this" he commented as he holds his brush backward and runs after her as she's nowhere close enough to strike her. In response, she started to spray her ink out trying to splat him which she did land a few hits on him as she ran off to the stage area. The ink slowed him down, but a quick dip into his colored ink as a squid fixed this. He took his brush and began pushing it forward like a roller helping him ink the ground and give him some ground coverage as he turns sharply around the corner to find the octarian looking right at him with her weapon ready to go as she starts to fire at will. He took several of the shots before he rolls to the side splattering a bit of ink from his brush and starts to rush towards her once more. This kid was a bit more determined than she had realized, she had always heard inkling kids were always the easiest to push over given how octarians were seen as nasty and scary people. This one really showed no fear as he zipped right up to her.

"You're done kid!" she exclaimed pulling the trigger right into Arthur's face as he got a face full of that purple ink at near point blank. It was only one shot as Arthur swung his brush slapping her with it and knocking her weapon out of her hand as he lurched a bit forward as he wipes his face to get the ink off. She was down on her back as she was recovering from the smack. That brush did hit a bit hard and probably may leave a bruise on the side of her face as she had splatters of green ink over her face and chest plate. He walked over to her slowly still holding his inkbrush, upon reaching her he moves the brush a few inches from her as he looks down at her. Her goggles were knocked aside as he could see her eye to eye. She was pissed alright that she had lost so easily and to a kid. Though he also noticed that there was frustration that may have stemmed from somewhere else, not just because she lost. There were a few moments of pause as she was out of reach of her weapon, she realized this and this silence was making her squirm.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Splat me" she told him in a bit of an angry tone as he was mulling over a few things in his mind about her.

"Are you trying to make me feel less of an octopus by simply holding off when you splat me? You're a sick person you know that!" her insults slapped on him like ink slapped across the face as he sighed.

"No. I'm just trying to figure out why do you hate me so much," he told her calmly as she gave a surprised look of confusion.

"What?! You serious?! You guys took land that should have been ours 100 years ago during the great turf war. But no, we lost to you guys. A bunch of freakin squids. We were pushed underground to live in under your shadows as you've grown we've had to survive" she barked at him as he could hear the pain in her voice. It was not that she hated him, she sounds more hurt by her current position than anything else.

"Shell, if you don't splat me you would probably turn me into the authorities and I'd be locked up for who knows how long" she added as he sighed putting the brush end on the ground.

"I hear your pain. I can't fix what happened, and I think deep down you know the same too. Ruining this won't help you in the least bit, in fact, it would only help feed the hatred inklings have for ya. Think about it" he told her as she pretty much had to listen as she looked to the side at her weapon.

"It's not rocket science. I know what it's like getting the short end of the stick. I know what it's like losing something you've worked hard for. I doubt you would trust me but just give it a thought" he added as she mumbled.

"Give it a thought? I'm not taking advice from a kid more so to someone that's beaten me and could very well end me at any moment" she bit back with her words as he frowned, hard cookie.

"I never said you had to take it nor accept it. I just ask to at least give it a thought. I would much rather solve my conflicts with no violence what so ever. Sure we don't agree with each other, but that does not mean we can't try to get along" he added thinking about it and tossed his brush aside. The brush clanged on the stage which seemed more a surprise to her. Was he seriously going to spare her?

"Let's make a deal, undo what you did and go home. I won't tell anyone about you being here. Deal?" he asked as he offers her an outstretched hand to help her up. Was unsure if this was a trick or a straight up insult. Was she having some kid let her off the hook like that when she meant to destroy something for splatfest?

"You-You serious about this? You realize what I am right? I'm an Octarian, I'm not exactly the best person to be trusting and all. And what's not to make me think you're just lying to me" she questioned as he sighed.

"I know what Octarians are and I've heard all about them. However, I let their actions speak for who they are as individuals. Not what the society tells me is right or wrong. Besides, everyone can't be bad apples right?" he offered her a smile as he still had an outstretched hand. He had a point though it still felt weird that he was willing to just spare her like this. Was always told Inklings would most likely just splat her without remorse. This one didn't seem so bad. She took his offered hand and lets him pull her up.

"There we go" he rummaged in his messenger bag finding a towel he usually used for turf wars to wipe off ink from himself as he hands it to her.

"Now, please undo what you did alright?" he asked as she takes the towel to remove the ink off herself.

"Yeah yeah I'll get to it..." she said looking at her weapon and shakes her head. She was walking towards it as he stood his ground. A part of him thought she would turn on him and splat him after he had spared her. She instead just placed the splattershot gun on her backside as she walks around to the power outlet she tampered. He gave a sigh of relief as he got his brush and placed it on his backside. Catching up with her he considered someone would not suspect the two of this vandalism as they did ink up a bit of the stage. The octarian kept her word as she removed her device meant to blow everything on the stage as she looked back at him.

"There, it's off better?" she asked as he nods.

"Yeah, and I have my side of the deal. I ain't telling anyone, just go home please" he asked her as she begins to walk off.

"You know for a kid you seem a bit more mature than you let on" she turned to him as she got her goggles back on with her device in her hand.

"I've had to grow up fast. I appreciate the compliment, and I thought for a minute you would turn on me like many others say octarians would. But I think your kin probably say the same about us too, so we're in the same boat in a way" he thanked her for the compliment as she rolled her eyes in under her goggles.

"Trust me, kid, we say much worst" she was about to say more before being cut off.

"Arthur," he remarked as she paused looking at him. She seemed a tad confused at first but figured it quickly.

"Arthur is your name?" she asked as he nods. She gave a sigh finding a sewer grate and looked down at it.

"Well if you're seriously thinking on name sharing, it's Octavia" she would soon turn into an octopus and disappear into the sewer grate. A good chance he may never see her again, but it was good she at least let him be and didn't do much damage to the stage equipment. Unfortunately, they gave the stage crew something to clean up first thing in the morning which was NOT good. Made it look like someone had a little match on stage which was not exactly the best thing to do.

"Well, didn't sign up for splatfest. Messed the stage up. More likely I have my friends in a panic, what could possibly go wrong next?" he asked himself in a rhetorical tone.

"Good question coming from someone like you," a voice said in behind Arthur, sounded female as he jumped immediately away from the voice turning to see who or what it was. Hand on his inkbrush in case it was something bad. It was another inkling for sure, white skin with her tentacles being black. She wore a pink t-shirt with a flower embalm on it and a pair of blue jean pants. She also wore a pink beanie with a star to one side. A pair of sunglasses were on her face which made him wonder if she could even see him through them. However seeing a sleek looking black roller he remembered from an image that was called a hero roller. She gave a light giggle with a big grin as she watched Arthur's reaction.

"Awww didn't mean to sneak up on ya. Though guess you can say You-niqued up on this one" she tossed a pun out there which Arthur cringed a bit. Oh geez, even inklings were capable of the terrible puns.

"Erm, I suppose you're right but who are you anyways?" he asked with his hand still at the ready as she seemed to roll her eyes in under her glasses.

"Geez don't watch the news any? I'm Agent One, we worked together on strange stuff going around Inkopolis. At times, well most of it really, it involves the octarians" she said as she noticed where his hand was and sighed.

"I ain't gonna splat you or anything. Otherwise, you'd already be a spot of ink on stage. Best not to be Spot right?" she asked rhetorically as Arthur moved his hand from his brush handle that was still on his back.

"I suppose you're right. Though I'm not sure why that octarian went out of their way to try ruining the stage" he commented as Agent One shrugged.

"Beats me, more than likely just trying to disrupt what inklings were planning on doing. Splatfests are a huge deal, so messing one of these events up could cause some major issues" she mentioned as Arthur was left to mull it over.

"Though, why did you let that Octarian go? She obviously meant to sabotage the opening performance by the Squid Sisters, and there's a good chance now thanks to you she'd come back to do more harm. Unless you think she can turn a new tentacle" the agent questioned Arthur as he sighed putting his hands in behind his head.

"Well for starters, I really didn't want my friends to get harmed if there was something foul being done to the stage. And secondly, I do think second chances should be given. Call me a sympathizer, I can understand their stance in wanting to let their frustration out on us for what happened and forced to live underground. I get that part with no issues. However, just pushing them back underground, splatting any wrongdoers and not trying to help correct the behavior and attitude won't help either" he looked at her as he made his argument.

"I mean sure, we see octarians as being a bunch of bad octopi. On the same side, wouldn't an octarian see us as just a bunch of bad squids too? Why not show them that yes we can be good and not cause I feel pity for them. Cause I want to make a difference in hopes things become better" he said as the Agent nods her head. There was a drop that was heard in the sewer drain as someone had been listening in on the discussion, or maybe just some ink going down the tubes.

"I see where you're coming from. But you still gotta be cautious with them. Some maybe more aggressive than others. Sure this one gave you trust, that could change next time around so don't let your guard down" she said as Arthur sighed letting his arms down.

"Fine fine. I'll keep that in mind next time" he mentioned looking around and then looked at the time. It was then he realized his phone was dead.

"Well, go run off to sign up for a splatfest. Phone's dead and your friends are probably freaking out on where you are" he gave a sigh as the Agent raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, you haven't even signed up for splatfest? Well, I can get ya signed up. Gotta pull a few strings and ask a few friends but I can do it" the agent said as Arthur looked a tad surprised.

"Seriously? I appreciate the gesture" he would smile a bit as Agent One would nod.

"Well, all I really need to know is which side you're going on. Rollers or Chargers" she asked with a bit of a smile hoping he'd go with the roller.

"I honestly like both for different reasons. But I'm still learning how to roller well, so I'm sticking with Charger. Though don't you need my name or anything?" he asked as she shakes her head.

"Nah, I think we can figure out which inkling you are. Besides, you're the only brown tentacled inkling I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of different inklings" she smiled with a nod to her head.

"Well alright, just don't put my name down as 'Brownie'. Unless you're looking for brownie points" he joked with the agent smiling a bit when she heard the joke.

"Not too shabby, though you mentioned something about your friends?" she asked as he realized that was probably a bit more important.

"Right! Yeah, know of any sort of payphone that I could use or borrow your phone?" he asked as she was already digging for her phone in a pocket pulling it out. Looked sleek and new, though had a little kitty charm attached to it.

"Here ya go, hope all is well with them," she said as she watched him start dialing a number when he takes the phone.

"Well, let's just say something unnerved me back home and I sort of ran off" he commented as she gasped a bit.

"Trying to run away? Are you serious?!" her disbelief was believable in her voice as he shrugs.

"I suppose, it's a long story to explain it. But I think it's on me for doing the rash decision. A friend of mine said I need to stop doing such rash behaviors and calm down" he commented as he was placing the call. He was calling Bianca who answered as she was perplexed to know who was calling her. It was an immediate relief that he was alright and it was him that was on the line. Having to use someone's phone as his died. With the tram system shut down for the night, Arthur was going to be making his way on foot back home. Bianca was already on her way on foot too and told him to meet up half way and they could walk back. After making a meetup point in front of a specific food place he hangs the phone up and hands it back to Agent One.

"Thank you, at least she didn't start putting up 'missing' signs" he added as she nods.

"A good thing too. You don't seem to be a really bad inkling, a bit rash and a bit too forgiving but you'll learn in time" the agent girl smiled as Arthur looked back to the stage that was still a mess.

"Yeah… And I'm assuming all that is gonna be-".

"The cleanup guys will take care of it. It's not the first time some punk tried to write their name on stage so someone would notice them so don't worry they'll get it" she cut him off in his question just before he could ask it.

"Alright, I suppose. Well, thanks again for letting me use your phone and getting me signed up. I should get going" he thanked her before turning around and starting to walk off.

"Anytime and remember Stay… uh" Agent one was about to blurt something out but froze realizing what she was about to do. Arthur turned a bit around to look at her puzzled seeing she had stopped in mid sentence.

"Stay what?" a quirked eyebrow and a tilt of the head was expressed as he was trying to figure out what she meant. Was she about to say Stay Fresh?

"Stay, Stay Safe. Yeah Stay safe haha" she gave a grin and a raised her thumb up while inside she was panicking a mile a minute hoping she didn't just blow her cover. It took him a moment but he gave her a smile back.

"Alright, you too Agent One" with that he hurried off into the night as Agent One gave a heavy sigh of relief. Dodged that embarrassing moment.

"Stay Safe? Really Agent 1?" came a second voice that dropped down off the stage. It was 'Molly' carrying the hero charger as Agent 1 became flustered.

"H-Hey! I had to say something Agent 2, else he would've known" she stammered as agent 2 rolled her eyes.

"What, could have said stay safe going home, something along those lines would've worked too" Agent 2 added as agent 1 sighed.

"Also, I told you he'd pick charger" Agent 2 seemed to have had a bet placed on him apparently.

"Oh come on Marie, you gotta admit he did fairly well with the inkbrush. Gotta give him that credit. But I know, a bets a bet. I'll buy ya a smoothie. I think Lucky's is still open this late at night" Agent 1 said as she started drooling a bit at the idea of a snack right now. Marie sighed with a bit of a frown from how easily Callie was distracted.

"Oh you, yeah let's go before they close up," Marie said as Callie would tag along. It better be quick as they had a long day tomorrow.

It took Arthur a bit of time to get to the meetup spot, a ramen shop as he looked around for Bianca. He had this weird feeling that he was gonna be yelled at once more giving a soft sigh expecting it. Within under a street lamp, he stood against the pole waiting before he heard footsteps hastening to his location.

"Arthur! Damn it, you had us worried" he heard Bianca said as she approached. She wore a sports jacket over top of her tank top and pants. She didn't look too happy as expected.

"Sorry Bianca, I just had a lapse in memories back home and I reacted" he apologized coming up with something to say.

"Lapse in memory? Seriously? Could have said something to me or mom about it. But no you ran off on your own. Scaring the living ink out of us" Bianca went on as she was a bit hard pressed to accept it.

"I didn't want you guys to start worrying about me if I did say something" he knew this would more than likely set her off more.

"Yeah like running away wouldn't? You're a kid just like me, ya gotta remember that" her voice concerned but mostly frustrated with him.

"I'm not a damn kid thank you. I may look like a kid but I'm nowhere close to being a kid" he remarked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Even if you're mentally an adult your body still says, kid. Think about what you're doing before running off. Plus, what happened back home to cause you to do that? I've never seen anyone do what you did before" she poked at his past a bit as he cringed.

"You really wanna know? I'll tell ya. When I grew up, my father was respected as a business man. Though one day he tried taking a bit more than he should have and ended up losing his job and reputation. He became a drunk to try drowning the failure but that made it worse. He pretty much beats me every single night or every other night from his frustration. Heck, the same drunkard was the one that ran over my little sister while coming home drunk and remarked 'Stop your crying, I can make another one with no problem with that bitch of a mother inside. Shut the fuck up'" he quoted the last part as he looked down with a heavy sigh. He hated his old man, more than anyone else to be honest. Add on that, Arthur may have tendencies similar to his old man so try not to become what you hate right?

"I hate him. I know it's not the liquor that is evil, it's how it's used. Consume it in moderation and you're fine. Go overboard with it, and it abuses you along with everyone else. But just to hear the shouts and slurred vocal patterns… It just brings those memories back" before he could say more Bianca had approached him on the side patting his back.

"I hear you, Arthur. Trust me, I've heard similar stories here in inkopolis about that sort of stuff. It's honestly terrible to think people would do such things. But know that we're here for you. Just please remember that next time" she assured the best she could.

"Right… to home then?" he asked her as Bianca nods.

"Lets, mom's getting worried about us" she would walk along with Arthur with a soft sigh. He wasn't a bad guy though she started to notice the timid side of Arthur created by the abuse he had gone through. Enough abuse and mental scarring that it left a mark on him. The body may heal from sticks and arrows, but words and ideas can scar the soul.

The rest of the night went uneventfully as Arthur and Bianca made their way home. He did have to apologize to Grace for worrying her so much. Then again, how would someone react if they were caring for someone then suddenly that person just up and leaves with no warning? They would be pretty upset as well. After apologizing for his actions he would retire to his room to rest up. Tomorrow was what he was told a big day given it was a splatfest. Though as he sat at his desk he sighed thinking as he was doodling in his sketchpad. He was currently drawing the octoling he saw earlier that night as he used this sketch pad as a sort of journal for what happened or what he's seen thus far. It's definitely been a trip for him but felt something was missing. He took a wild gamble as he went to his old messenger bag to rummage around for a few items. Pulling an SD card from it that he originally had for an MP3 player, he decided to try seeing if human technology could work with inkling tech. The technology appearance wise seemed the same to him for all intents and purposes. A few changes here and there, but looked mostly the same as he had acquired an SD to USB adapter from a store while he's been waiting to get into a match. It was a surprise as he found the SD card was able to be read and smiled as he had old images from his home and some of his sound files. Found that files had to be changed around but were surprised that image files and sound files stayed the same while text documents were pretty much toast. Playing the tunes from his original playlist of songs were nice to him as he heard them through his headphones. A good memory of the past though bitter sweet as it was. Though best he did not share with others as they would probably not understand the context of the songs or the lyrics themselves. He was more for rock and alternative rock than pop music personally. He would transfer the files of music and images to his laptop, getting the music to his phone so he can listen to it while he's out and about. Afterward, he would crawl into bed to rest with a sigh letting his mind wander. Did he really do the right thing letting that octoling go with no punishment? Sure, they held a strong grudge for inklings for what happened in the great turf war. He just viewed that if either side held grudges with the other, those emotions will solidify and peace can never be achieved. Which, unable to reach a compromise will just erode the inkling society or force either side to try eradicating the other. Either case was unneeded in his opinion. There was probably opportunities being missed cause of this separation and bitter feelings. Heck, maybe he should have splat her just cause to fill her idea that inklings were all bad. He sighed as he rolled over in bed looking at the wall as he chewed on the moral decision. At least he spared someone right?

The next day rolled in so quickly it seemed a tad rushed at least for the sleeping part. He could already hear Bianca already moving around as he was pulling himself up and awake. Grace and her husband were sleeping in and probably for good reasons given it's the weekend and last night was hectic for both of them if not for different reasons. Arthur was dressed in just a white t-shirt with another store logo on it with a pair of brown cargo pants. Bianca had a blue t-shirt with a pair of gray shorts to go with them.

"Oh this is gonna be so much fun with it being your first splatfest Arthur," she said with a smile as she was munching on some toast. Arthur had a bowl of cereal as he was thinking.

"I keep hearing it is. I'm trying to decide if you're being honest with me or just saying that" he told her as she shakes her head.

"It's gonna be fun trust me! There's always live concerts the entire day by various bands. It's pretty much a big show as those that signed up get to fight it out in turf wars for the teams we decided to go with. It's pretty fun as most of the stores have deals going on the entire time" she mentioned as she was thinking and remembered something.

"Oh, a few things on the splatfest matches, you know it's anyone you can be teamed with so expect the fights to be pretty wacky, to say the least. Sometimes you'll win, sometimes you'll lose. Before the match, you'll get a t-shirt with the team you're playing for and go from there. Those shirts sadly get returned as we never get to keep them" she gave a soft sigh wishing she could as he listened to her. It made some sense if it was all free, then they shouldn't get the shirts back as that would literally be throwing money away unless you can make the shirts for no cost which that's impossible.

"Wonder if ya tossed them some money if they would let you keep the shirts" he joked as she rolled her eyes.

"Everyone's tried but no one has been successful at it. Oh, mom asked me to have us stop by Ammo Knights. She has a surprise for you I think" she added as Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"A surprise for me? What are you talking about?" he asked as she shrugged.

"I have no idea, she just said to head there today and talk with Sheldon I suppose," she said as she finishes her toast as he was finishing his cereal too.

"Well alright then, guess we got a long day ahead of us then" he added getting up to rinse his stuff before placing the dishes into the washer as Bianca smiled.

"Oh you bet!" with that she turned to head to her room getting her roller out and getting herself ready to head out. Arthur would do the same packing his jacket into his messenger bag along with his original scarf. Hat on his head as he gets his phone ready with earbuds, ink tank and splattershot ready to go. Once he was together along with her they would both head out. Unsure what was waiting for them at Ammo Knights but as they say one way to find out.

"Oh hey, Bianca, Arthur good of you two to drop by" Sheldon greeted as he was standing behind the counter as the two inklings made it to the store in no time flat. Though they had to admit it was crowded in the plaza with the splatfest going on. Even the stores had extra help with working with customers right and left.

"Hey Sheldon, thought we should drop by before we hopped into the splatfest. I was told we should stop by here though" she mentioned as Arthur followed up adjusting the messenger bag around his shoulder.

"Oh yes yes. Well, it's mostly for Arthur really. Come to the back to the firing range. I wanna show you two it" Sheldon waved heading into the back room as Bianca gave a shrug and followed.

"Must be something special if he wants us in the back huh?" Arthur remarked heading into the back with her.

"Well I've heard he likes to experiment with new weapon designs and if he said it was specifically for you, I think it may have something to do with you" she spoke as they passed a few work benches with weapons being worked on and a few in storage. Sheldon was in the very back where it went outside to a concrete area that had some metal grates above them and a few target balloons set up. Sheldon was putting a certain case down on the table as it looked much like the case Arthur's bow was stored in.

"Alright, I know both of you are interested in seeing what I've got in store" he smiled as both looked onward to him as the horseshoe crab looked at Arthur.

"Bianca's mother, Grace, asked me to try replicating a certain item that she had uncovered by her team so they can study it. It turned out being a success, but sadly the form didn't last long. However as exciting as that was, it gave me a new idea. Which led me to make this, I'll let you two decide which of you two want to open it up" he stepped aside to let either of them approach it.

"I think you should open the case Arthur" Bianca suggested with Arthur with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

"Well alright. I have a hunch what it is but I'm still not sure" Arthur would approach the table and start to unlock the case. His eyes were a bit wide as he saw what was before him. What sat in the case was a blue compound bow that looked freshly made. What set this bow apart from the ones back in his time was there was a pump looking structure in the middle where the arrow would sit. A fairly considerable sized middle section with a nozzle at the end. A small tank seemed to be attached to the nozzle that went up one of the bow arms. It was a sigh of relief the bow was made for a left handed shooter as he shot with his left hand. Taking the bow in his hand he found the string was attached to a plunger with a convenient grip that made pulling the string back and releasing easily. Once the bow as in hand he would also notice the sights on it for the various ranges that the bow could shoot.

"All I gotta say is wow" he felt comfortable with the bow as Bianca looked in awe.

"Wow that's really nifty, so what are the stats for it Sheldon?" she asked looking at the store clerk and inventor as he smiled.

"Well, it's your standard charger type weapon. Great range with power, but it lacks your movement speed when charging up. Not to mention it has a bad coverage. This weapon though I made it a bit unique as I tried having more ink at the end so when it hits something it can splat a target. That splat gets bigger if it actually hits an inkling. Surfaces will just put a spot on it. But you still can't move fast once you're charged up" Sheldon remarked as Arthur was working on getting the bow set to his ink tank. Though this was the first time Arthur actually removed his messenger bad and had his ink tank on his back.

"That sounds unique and different, it's a bit of a downgrade from the splatterscope but I'm not so sure it will do well maybe" she was commenting as Arthur gave the bow a pull standing at the line to see his distance and tried tagging the furthest target. The bow would shoot the ink outwards and with Arthur positioning where that ink ball would land, he nailed the furthest target.

"The bow charges fast, but it takes longer to set your shot up at the range" Arthur commented on the weapon as he pulls the strong back with no problem and pops the mid range target.

"It feels just like a bow I used to play with as a kid while at camp. This is nice" he commented as Bianca was a bit surprised he still remembered how to fire that thing.

"Well, I wanted to make something that would please and this is probably one of the fastest charging charge weapons out there. But I think it's only fast as you may have some upper body strength most inklings don't have" Sheldon added with a smile happy with another satisfied customer on one of his inventions.

"Got a point I suppose. Though what else comes with it? I know most of the weapons here have at ability and then a side item like a grenade or mines" Arthur asked as Sheldon nods.

"Oh yes, I figured an ability that has Echolocator on it, something that you can use to let you and your entire team see where the enemy is on the map. And have some suction bombs on the side. Figured it may be best to use suction bombs as they stick anywhere and you may need the cover when you're running every now and then" Sheldon added as Arthur was thinking about the weapon stats and abilities. Those could work out, he never really used the bombs that much to begin with unless he needed to make a spot so he could recharge his ink tank.

"Alright, so what do you want me to do with this? I assume you just wanted to show us this right?" he asked placing the bow down so the bottom pulley wheel of the bow rested on his shoe.

"It's a gift and a bit of a prototype test. I want to see how well it performs in turf wars and by seeing what you've done on the range I think you have a good idea how to fire it" Sheldon remarked as Bianca looked surprised.

"Wait wait, you're letting him do a prototype testing?" she asked as Sheldon nods.

"Yeah, I've not lost anything in business if the bow doesn't work well. If it does work well I've got the blueprints to make more. And seeing I'm not writing off for money, I think letting him keep the weapon is good enough, what do you say Arthur. Good with helping me test this out?" Sheldon asked looking up to Arthur as he looks down at the bow thinking.

"I don't mind sure. Though a question, if there's something that does need to be changed after this testing would you be willing to modify the bow?" Arthur replied as Sheldon agreed with a nod.

"Then ya got yourself a tester" Arthur smiled taking the bow and placing it in the case before closing it up.

"Well, guess we better start testing this weapon out huh? Come on, the first round of matches should be ending up and we could probably get into the next rounds. Splat all day long!" Bianca exclaimed with a smile as she heads out of the shooting range. Arthur took a few moments to get his messenger bag on with his splattershot still connected to the bag, though it felt clumsy to hold both as he sighed.

"Want me to send this back to where Bianca's home is? I can do that for you if the splattershot is a bit of a hassle" Sheldon offered with a small smile with his buck teeth.

"Sure I would appreciate that quite a bit thank you" Arthur replied handing over the splattershot so Sheldon can send it out.

"I'll be keeping in touch with ya and watching the matches to see how you do, best of luck out there," the store clerk said with a smile as Arthur was walking off the shooting range carrying the bow case.

"Alright and thanks" with that Arthur went out and out of the store. Time to see what this splatfest was all about.


	4. Chapter 4

The plaza was quite a sight to see as both Arthur and Bianca were out in the crowds. There were so many different inklings from all sorts of ranks from the tip top to the very bottom. All where chatting, looking around at stores and shopping while somewhere heading for the tower where the stage was setup. The stage was set on either side of the plaza so it made a sort of aisle way to the tower. Music was playing through the speakers on stage as there was a band on stage at the moment, what Arthur found out was that during the splatfest various performers and bands would come on stage to play entertaining inklings right and left. The squid sisters were a re-occurring act that went on all day though their biggest performance would be at night. There would be two winners in this splatfest, the winner that had the most votes and the one with the most wins on turf. Already it seemed the rollers had won the votes with a near 50 to 48 percent split with the chargers on the bottom. That honestly didn't bug Arthur too much, this was meant to be fun as Bianca was meeting up with her friends to see what they picked. Tsunami and Rick went with rollers like her while Jake went with chargers like Arthur. The squad was happy to see Arthur once more and doing well, a bit impressed that he had a new weapon to try out today. The group got into line to get their shirts as they made their way up front they smiled getting their shirts and quickly slide them over top whatever they were wearing. The fabric was quite light weight and didn't seem to add a layer of warmth to them. The colors for the rollers were pink with a touch of purple while the charger shirts had lime green as the group wished each other good luck on the turf. This was definitely gonna be a day not to forget.

The matches went by so quickly Arthur nearly lost count as he tried the bow out for the first time in an actual turf setting. He handled it pretty well finding he did best moving around from spot to spot instead of just camping one spot. Considering the bow was not as bulky as a splattershot, he could move a bit easier while on foot. He did wish there was a front stabilizer as the tank that was part of the bow did make it a bit heavy on the top side. Maybe a back stabilizer would be better. The day went on and the night was closing fast as the main concert was beginning. The plus side was that on the turf match, the concert was streamed through the audio systems so players could listen in too. As it became night Arthur would do one more match before calling it quits for the event. Arthur would spawn in with three other inklings. The team looked nice as one of them commented on his weapon finding it rather unique. Arthur thanked for the compliment before the four squad members launched themselves from spawn and onto the skate park map. He tried to fire a shot midair to see if he can catch someone but ends up missing someone by inches as he lands and starts to move around covering as best he can and finding a high spot to tag inklings from. He got a good idea of the team that he was going up against as he saw a few with medium ranged splat guns and a spray gun. He almost got hit by a splatterscope sniper but dealt with them quickly with a quick splat. An irony he saw a roller but smiled noticing it was his friend Bianca. This should be fun as he starts to splat on covering as much as he can while also taking out the opposing team. When he finally ran across Bianca he gave a little whistle.

"Think fast!" he would shot as he fired a full charged shot at Bianca who was rolling.

"Huh? WHA!" she was caught off guard and was splattered and sent to respawn. Though she got a quick look at who got her. The kid with the bow that she was living with. Oh, that little newbie was gonna get it.

The match wore on as it almost became a sort of contest on which one of them can splat the other first. For the most part, both were splatting the other fairly evenly. She had a way of sneaking up behind him while he managed to pick her off before she could get close enough to take him out. Their teammates were having as much fun covering the turf as much as possible. A bit amusing watching the two go at it, though it was when Arthur was splatting Bianca that he realized that she was using a Krak-on roller, which could allow the user to turn into a very powerful squid or Kraken that could ignore enemy ink and splat the enemy too. Which that sort of ability was quite powerful and useful while in the corner or a surprise for the enemy. The match was ending soon with the personal score of Arthur and Bianca being five to five for splatting the other. She was doing a good job evading him as he tried to splat her with his bow. Arthur was being backed into the enemy turf as he stays his ground and tries picking his shot.

"I got ya now Arthur!" Bianca smiled as she was heading right for him with her roller. Though a laser marker appeared behind her as there was a whistling sound as that of a bomb. Both looked up and saw the large missile projectile about to land in behind Bianca. An inkstrike as they called it, a special like the Kraken though lets out a whirl of ink all the way around a spot which could take out multiple of inklings at once. Or helps cover a space that's at the last second. Though for Bianca, she would be sent right back to respawn if she got hit by it.

"Damn!" she forgets herself for a second as she jumps forward trying to avoid it and runs right into Arthur. He let out a gasp as he had a fully charged shot but with the collision, he misses his shot and fires in a random direction. As they both land, he would be a part of his team color ink and his ass was on the enemy side as he looked up seeing Bianca inches from his face. The inkstrike missed her but the situation and position both were left in was a bit of an embarrassment as she was on top of him. The closeness got a blush from both as he realized as he tries to push her up, his hand grabs onto a boob. Wait, she started developing boobs now? His cheeks went red as Bianca beat his blush with no issue as she shot up leaving Arthur on the ground. Her right hand still holding onto her roller as she looked completely startled. She was sitting on his hips as she the fireworks were going off in the night time sky overhead. The final count down was coming up and it looked like Arthur's team would win.

"Erm, didn't mean that. Seriously I didn't" he told her meaning about the boob grab. She was still blushing as she looked down at him.

"I-It's erm…" she was unsure what to say as the countdown was going down from ten.

"I'm surprised they came in so soon," he said this as he covered his mouth realizing his idiotic slip of the tongue. Her tentacles went up as she was further disturbed and blushing brighter. And with the look she had, a slap was coming.

"I-I oh boy, uhm do-don't hurt ME!" his voice was muffled down as Bianca unleashed her Kraken special and splatted Arthur back to his spawn point. Was it worth the comment? Not really considering Judd the judging cat gave the win to the rollers. A 49.9% to 50.1% score with the rollers on top. Go figure that splat Bianca got on him covered enough space to give her team the win. He sighed sitting at the spawn point as his cheeks were a tad red as one of the guys asked if he was alright. He said he was fine as he heard what the results were from the entire splatfest. Seemed Callie won this splatfest with the rollers being the favorite weapon out there. He would head off the turf as he sighed as he was heading out of the tower as the concert was going on with the squid sisters. He already placed his bow into the case Sheldon had given him for the bow. He already reported to the weapon shop owner how the bow did and commented about needing something to stabilize the bow when he's using it when fully charged. Though honestly the entire time he couldn't get Bianca out of his mind. Why was it he couldn't think of her straight all the sudden. Sure she was growing in like a woman, or starting to at the least. But they were just friends, right? He shakes his head trying to get the thoughts out of his head. He wasn't too sure as he could swear she had a thing for Jake not him. It took a bit but after wandering in the crowd he finally caught up to Bianca and her friends who were happy with how the matches went and the fun they had. Though Bianca remained quiet around Arthur and same with himself. It was indeed awkward, to say the least for both. Which was more evident when the concert was getting to a close with a firework finish, Bianca took the moment to slip off. Tsunami and Jake took notice and went after her leaving Rick and Arthur to themselves. Of course Rick would slip off too seeing a cute inkling to try flirting with. The firework show as good as he sighed drifting back a bit into his past. Remembering the good days of summer. Cool evenings after the hot day, a slight wind to keep the bugs at bay as well. Not to mention grilling out food, playing with friends and family. The laughter and joy of youth as he stood there listening to it softly till he was brought back to his current reality as the sounds of the fireworks drifted off. He looked around realizing that the crowd of inklings was thinning out and finding Bianca had disappeared too. Not to mention her other friends too, did he just doze off into a memory or did she leave cause of how uncomfortable she was with what had happened?

"Great, left here on my own. Geez, didn't mean to do what I did to her" sighing softly to himself regretting what he had done.

"Did what to who?" a female voice rang from behind him as Arthur jumped turning around to see who it was. Standing before him was a slightly taller inkling with a slightly tanned skin. Her hair was green and her two long tentacles kept in a bow behind her head, she had yellow spots on her tentacles as well. Her red eyes were watching him curiously behind yellow rimmed glasses. Wearing a purple t-shirt and blue light weight jacket. A pair of knee length shorts was on her with white shoes. She also seemed to have a giant three barreled weapon with a giant tank on the side. He hadn't seen a weapon like that but only in the shop, the only thing he knew about it was it was heavy and could pack a punch.

"Erm, I accidentally offended a friend of mine, and who are you anyways? The place is nearly deserted at this point" he pointed out a lot of the inklings and other species had already started heading out as softer music was playing in the background from the stage.

"The name's Yumi, and I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Though it's not nice to offend people" she placed a hand on her hip which Arthur was noticing she was a bit more round than a normal inkling. She had a bit of curve to her but some of that was due to a bit of weight around her middle and backside.

"Hey, I didn't mean it is all I'm saying it. Sheesh if I told you, you would slap me across a stage" he commented as she raised an eyebrow listening to him thinking.

"So you touched her in a place she didn't wanna be touched?" she guessed as his face went white as a sheet. She gave a soft sigh not wanting to hear more.

"Look, if that happened in a match that's an accident which can happen anyway. Best not let that get to ya. Though if you made some sort of pervy comment I'd personally send ya packing half way across town but I don't think you want that" she followed with a toothy grin. He would return the grin a bit reluctantly as he nods.

"Right, have you been watching me this whole time?" he asked rather confused as she nods.

"Mhm, word travels fast squid kid, you're one of the few inklings to raise their own rank so quickly in a long while. I even heard rumors that somewhere thinking you should get some sort of recognition for ranking up so fast" her eyes dazzled as she spoke excited a bit. As though she was meeting a person she admired.

"Well, that's a bit of a surprise. I was just ranking up for fun nothing really to it. I may just stop while I'm ahead and not worry about trying to get to S rank" he told her as the smile she had was fading.

"Wait, you're not going into ranked turf wars? Oh come on, there are inklings out there that see you as a bit of an inspiration to do better. A little nobody that's suddenly in the big leagues. Trust me, I've heard the chatter from others" her voice implied she was trying to convince him to rethink his potential move as he shrugs.

"Well, at the moment I'm still a freelancing inkling just jumping between matches with my friend's team if one of them needs a break I come in and fill in. So I don't even have a team to work with" he gave a soft sigh looking around.

"Well, my team needs a new charger. The last guy decided to leave us which sucks honestly. We would be glad to have you join us thought" she gave him a welcoming smile being as nice as she can towards him. He turned his gaze back on her as she made her request and offer. The last team he worked with before he worked with Bianca's left him for high water when he got ill. Maybe this one will be better.

"Well don't just add me cause I use a charger, I do have an inkbrush I've been using. And I'm slowly falling in love with it" he joked a bit with a small chuckle.

"Oh trying to show off then big stuff?" she gave a grin and placing her hand on her hip as he rolled his eyes.

"Show off? Oh come on, if I was showing off I'd already been doing it" he remarked as she simply gave a giggle. She found him rather amusing for some odd reason or another. Her team would like this guy for sure if he joined.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt me to join you guys. Worse comes to worse, things don't work out and I head on my way once more" he said as she gave a smile.

"Good to hear, meet over by the cafe tomorrow at six in the evening. I'll have the guys with me too" she sounded happy she finally found a fourth team member for her team. Maybe this would be a new leaf to turn over for his turf matches. But hey, as they say, won't know til you get your feet in the ink.


	5. Chapter 5

The meeting with Yumi's team was a bit interesting the next day. The other two team players seemed nice enough. The group was strong with Arthur now on board. Bianca was still not talking to him, not since the last splatfest which he figured would be the case. He did touch her somewhere she didn't want to be touched. But same time, that's just how it happened. A few weeks passed as the weather began to change slowly. Though it was mostly rainy which was a bit of an issue for turf wars given most were outside and the few that were inside now were swamped.

"So you guys getting bogged down too?" Arthur was chatting with Bianca as they both were at the tower. More around next to it under an overhang that covered a few vending machines. Both were wearing rain jackets. Arthur's was green while Bianca's was orange. She gave a sigh as she bought a soda breaking her silence.

"Yeah, I hate it honestly and everyone else too. I've never remembered fall being this rainy though" a comment from her about the weather as she looked out. Not a lot of inklings were out, and if there were, they were wearing rain jackets and using anything to keep dry themselves. Apparently, inklings didn't like the rain.

"That stinks, been working in a new team but they're also meeting less and less given this weather" he was sitting on a handrail that was still dry as he looked outward and then back to her.

"Hey, about the other day..." he began to say before he was given a dead glare by his friend.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Just forget it alright?" she cut him short save her embarrassment as she holds her drink.

"Okay fine, sorry okay" he didn't mean to upset her so easily but at the same time, she wasn't throwing stuff at him. That was a good thing right?

"Well, if you want to hang around here and hope you get a match be my guest. I'm heading home. See you later" she pulled her hood up on her jacket and stepped on out into the rain as it was letting up a bit. It wasn't long before she was out of his sight as he was watching the weather.

"Yeah. Well, at least the rain isn't so bad" he commented to himself thinking about how it was like back in his time watching the same thing.

"Not exactly, a hair pinch too much and we could be flooded out" a voice came from below as Arthur turned his gaze to find the voice.

"Okay who said that? I know I have a pretty vivid imagination but that's not my voice" a whistle came up from a sewer cover as it pops open. Arthur's attention was drawn to it as he saw an elderly inkling pop his head out of the hole. He had a small beard and mustache as well as a sailor hat a caption would wear. Though his attire after that was probably less than ideal.

"You know we're already short on space already without more water coming down ya know?" the elder spoke as Arthur gave a rather odd questioning look.

"Erm, ya got a point. Though who the heck are you? Why are you down in a sewer drain?" the younger inkling asked as the other cleared his throat.

"I'm Capt'n Cuttlefish, I help lead the battle that decided the fate of Inklings and Octarians over 100 years ago. I can't really go into more details though I fear there's something that Octarians have done that I fear may endanger us" the elder spoke out as his voice sounded a bit of fear as Arthur hopped off the railing.

"Okay? And what am I suppose to do about that? Are you trying to find help or something?" Arthur was a tad skeptical of this fellow as anyone should be. Some old guy sticks his head out of a sewer drain saying the rain is by Octarians would be quite insane, to say the least.

"Well, why don't ya come on down to my base and we can talk more about it" the Capt'n offered as Arthur still had his arms crossed looking at the fellow. The elder inkling gave a soft sigh.

"But if you don't want to, I understand. I guess last time I got lucky with that one inkling that help brings the Great Zapfish back to its rightful place" Cuttlefish sounded defeated as he closed the grate of the manhole and disappeared into the line. Arthur merely watched debating it. It could be some random ass trap for a creeper all he knew. Then again, there was a sea urchin dude that lived in an alleyway. So at least give him a shot right? He gave a sigh and hopped onto the grate, turning into a squid he dropped right through and down the pipe.

It was not long as Arthur traveled the pipeline that he would pop out of another grate as he finds it is still raining outside. He grumbled as he pulls his jacket hood up looking for some cover. Did he make a wrong turn? Though he found an old shack looking building as he heads for it. Checking the door he found it was open, he cautiously opens the door heading inside.

"Well, guess I may have been wrong about you" Cuttlefish gave a smile as he was putting some zapfish plushies away. Why he had those, Arthur was not sure. Then again, everyone has to have a hobby right?

"You can say that. Though what makes you think I can help you in the least bit?" Arthur was indeed questioning, to say the least. What made this old guy think he could help him in whatever wild thing was going on.

"Well to start, there are two other agents working with me. Agents 1 and 2. Both mentioned you when they both crossed paths with them. Agent 2 said she saw you when you landed from a bad launch pad. Agent 1 after you dealt with an Octoling. Surprised you spared them" the elder spoke pulling out two chairs for Arthur and him to sit on. Folding chairs, hopefully, they were well kept up with.

"Okay so you've heard of me through both Agents 1 and 2, so what?" Arthur was unsure where this guy was coming from as he took a seat.

"I think someone young like ya can help us out. Possibly keeping Inkopolis safe since Agent 3 never came back" the elder sighed sitting down as well with Arthur giving him an odd look. There was another agent?

"Agent 3? For all, I know there's only two agents right?"

"Agent 3 was with us for some time when the Great Zapfish was stolen by the Octarians, they helped significantly on stopping the Octarian attack and returning the Great Zapfish to Inkopolis. Though I promised they would get fame for helping, however, once we had learned what the Octarians were doing if we went public it wouldn't have been pretty" Captain Cuttlefish explained further as he gestured to the picture of himself with Agents 1, 2, and 3.

"And they were not really content with how it all went down?" Arthur could imagine the discontent someone would have when they realized their fame was shoot down.

"Yes, it was a shame for them. Though they were polite about leaving, so now in this new trouble we're needing the help" to the captain they needed help. Something was weird about all this weather and had noticed there was some activity in Octovalley. As if some of them were moving somewhere.

"So how can I help?" Arthur felt this was completely off though something told him he needed to help. Maybe it was his personal morals compelling him to help or something else. The elderly inkling smiled at him in under his mustache and beard.

"You will?! Oh, bless the Great Zapfish, thank you, son. You'll need some gear specifically made to combat the Octarian ink" the captain moved about to a cabinet and pulled out a folded up clothing. It was black and looked to be safety patrol best he could tell. There was a pair of headphones as well as the captain hands it over to Arthur.

"Okay, and you got somewhere to chan-Oh okay" as Arthur was asking about changing he was pointed to a room to the side. He went over to the room, closed the door and changed. The uniform was a tad tight for his liking but he felt it stretching a bit. Was it some sort of special one size fits all sort of armor? Never seen anything like this.

"Looking quite sharp skipper, and I ask ya wear those headphones anytime you're out there on a mission, they work as a radio so we can talk two ways. And as for your weapon" the captain moved around opening a weapon cabinet with some sleek looking black weapons. One looked to be a roller, another a charger, and the other a splattergun. Nothing too special it seemed with them.

"Pick one of your choices, I should find a way to get more weapons" the captain sighed as Arthur took the Hero Charger from the cabinet.

"Guess this will work for me, so where to from here?" Arthur asked putting the rifle over his shoulders.

"Well I say we should..." as the captain was about to talk, a radio started going off at a work bench. A voice came through the speakers.

"Hey, Captain! You're not gonna believe this, but I think we found something worth investigating" the voice was that of Agent 1.

"Investigating, what do you mean? What did you two find?" Captain Cuttlefish was already at the mic as Arthur stuck his headphones on to listen in. Best time to adjust the volume on them now.

"We think some Octarians are in the city limits around that old skate park I investigated months ago. Sadly we can't continue the pursuit" Agent 2 was on the line too as she spoke too.

"Can't continue pursuit? What happened?" the captain was a tad disappointed to hear this.

"Seagulls..." the voice of Agent 2 seemed to be looking at Agent 1.

"I'm sorry! I tried shooting one of the Octarians and I missed hitting a Seagull, then a whole storm of them came out of nowhere!" Agent 1 was quick to explain themselves as the Captain and Agent 2 sighed.

"No matter girls, I've recruited a new agent so I can send him to that location to investigate" the two Agents seemed to pause hearing this from the Captain.

"Another Agent? Oh fun, is he cute?" Agent 1 was quick to ask as Arthur's cheeks went a tad red. The Captain looked over at Arthur with a nod, he could speak.

"Agents 1 and 2, meet Agent 4" the Captain introduced as Arthur cleared his voice.

"Hello, Agent 1, 2" the other two Agents recognized the voice nearly immediately. How did he get roped into this?

"Ah, nice to meet ya Agent 4, glad to make a new friend" Agent 1 sounded very cheery though as Agent 2 remained a tad quiet.

"A pleasure, we should get ya to that skate park as fast as possible" Agent 2 mentioned as the Captain nods seeing the rain was stopping.

"Agreed Agent 2. Agent 4, we'll call ya that, for now, to keep identities safe, take that pipeline over there" the Captain pointed to a pipe opening as Arthur walked to it.

"That will lead ya a few blocks away from where that skate park is, shouldn't be no huge issue. This is your first mission and I want you to hang low, don't engage unless you have to understood?" Cuttlefish was worried about the new guy as Arthur puts the rifle on his back.

"Alright, I'll try my best" with that Arthur went to squid form and went straight into the pipe. Hope this was the right way to go.

It took a bit of travel but Arthur finally made it to where he was supposed to be. He popped out of the drain as he gets on his feet. Pulling his charger out he keeps it at the ready as he heads down the alley.

"Hey, you guys still here?" he asked through the mic that apparently was a push to talk on one side of the headphones.

"Hear ya loud and clear Agent 4, remember to keep a low profile. I want you to observe and don't step in unless ya have to" the Captain came on the frequency as Arthur nods. He went out still turning the bend to get to the skate park. Sure enough, as night was rolling in, someone had some lights on in the park. He went to a crouching position as he walks quietly watching what was happening from afar. He wished he had a scope, he could see better. He checked his pocket of his armor... Talk about luck, there was a scope in his pants pocket. He puts it on the charger and looks through the scope.

The skate park had a large hole in it as there were Octarians working on excavating something. There were humanoid Octarians and their lesser tentacled versions working machinery. They had a side tunnel it seemed drilled into the ground that probably leads elsewhere. Maybe to where they were going. What were they digging up?

"Agent 4, do you see them?" the Captain was getting worried as Arthur responded.

"I do. Looks like they've opened a hole in the skate park and they got a side tunnel going somewhere. Not sure which is the way they're going though. Think they're looking for something" he reported as the Captain was a little worried.

"I see, keep a visual on them. I've lost contact with Agents 1 and 2, I'll send them a message to tell them to start heading your way though. If they're digging it can't be good" the Captain knew Octarians were crafty but it would be a good while before the other two Agents would get there. Arthur was left there alone as he watched. Seems the Octarians had a crane hoisting something up. He moved positions to get closer. Getting in behind a pile of rubble the dig crew pulled up to maybe listen to what they were doing.

"Alright! Lift it up! We got one of the cases! Careful with it though, don't know how fragile these things are" one of the Octarians signaled a crane operator to start pulling up. Arthur looked puzzled as they pulled up a large crate, almost a storage locker similar to what he had back in the lab. They set the crate on a cart that was attached to a motorized vehicle. Several works were looking at it and one of them wearing an outfit that covered their full outfit took a blower and blew the dirt off it. What was revealed made Arthur's heart sink as he let out a small gasp. The letters read 'MALBOLA Samples', it was written in plain English to him. To Octarians they may have understood the hazard icon and skull and cross bones on it. Someone preserved that virus, why?! Trust be told, the climate was one factor to why humanity died. The main reason was a virus called Malbola. Nasty stuff.

"Looks like the right stuff, get it on out of here and get the other cart in here" one of the Octarians called out as the cart turned on and started to take the crate through the other tunnel that was made.

"Agent 4? Are you alright? What's going on?" the Captian was asking as he did note that Arthur had let out a gasp earlier.

"Second crate coming up! Looks like the last one" another Octarian mentioned as half the Octarians were already leaving and the second cart was ready. Arthur knew if that thing got loose again, it would just repeat all over again. If they were after that stuff, there was a bad reason why. With that Arthur turned his headphones off and readied his charger. He aimed for the cart's power box, which was on the outside of the cart, and fired. The hit was a success as the cart came to life and started rolling without controls.

"What in the name of... An agent?!" an Octarian was shouting this as there were now five Octarians, three had gone down after the cart as two others remained. This was excluding the crane operator. Arthur moved in as he was rushing to get to a new spot while he threw a few ink bombs as cover. The two Octarians dodged and as one of them got to a safe spot, Arthur fires a shot at one of them. He lands the hit and the Octarian is splatted.

"Clam!" the male Octarian cursed as he disappeared. The female was not exactly happy as she had her Splattergun ready to go. At least they all synced up to their own re-spawner back at base. She managed to loop around and flank the Agent, expecting 1 or 2. But she stopped before she pulled the trigger seeing it was someone she did recognize. It was that kid that spared her just before the splatfest. He couldn't tell who she was because of her goggles but the way she acted, she seemed confused. He was as well but was a tad disappointed. If that was Octavia... Never mind her as he looked up as the crane operator was swinging the crate around trying to knock some stuff to hit the Agent. Arthur dodged it using one of his ink trails and came out and shot the operator. He did get the splat, but the controls went nuts and the container swung his direction. A tank of ink used for mostly transport was slammed open as the container broke. Arthur couldn't get out in time and get hit partly by the rubble. All the vial containers inside the container were torn open as most of it went on the ink. Though one of them splattered on his face and some even got inside his body. It tasted terrible as he coughed trying to get the taste out of his mouth. He fell onto the ink and rolled to get the stuff off him. Unknown to him, the virus was neutralized in the ink and in its current state, it wouldn't effect a normal inkling.

"Octavia! Status report? Is the Agent dealt with?" a voice barked at the lone Octarian looking over at Arthur.

"The second crate lost and that Agent looks to be down" she started as the volume of her headset was a bit loud.

"The hell?! I thought you were going to turn a new leaf!" Arthur was quick to remark but she cuts her transmission short.

"Coming from the kid that preached about trying to work stuff out and here you are as an Agent. I should splat ya right now!" Octavia was quite livid herself as she felt a tad betrayed. Arthur seemed like a nice guy, unusual as he was for sparing her, but now she felt that was just a ruse.

"Do you IDIOTS have any ideas what you've pulled up?! That stuff should have been destroyed!" he was going to talk more but he felt funny as he was going weak to his legs. It was happening.

"What are you talking ab-?! The shell?!" she was going to remark more but stopped herself when she saw Arthur just right out collapsed in front of her curled up as he was coughing. He felt hot, he felt like his body was going nuts.

"If the Agent is dead then report back. Blow the charge for the tunnel while you're at it" the voice told her in her headset. She looked down at Arthur and felt worse now. One second he looked fine, now he was like this. And she was given her orders to pull out.

"... Acknowledged" she moved past Arthur who was still shaking nearly uncontrollably as he felt his body was having some major issues. She went to the cave entrance where she was supposed to go and looked at the detonator in her hand. A remote variety. She made her choice and moved away from the cave entrance as she blew the charge. A clanking sound could be heard as she drops the detonator and pulled her goggles down to around her neck.

"Come on, geez you're heavy" she grunted as she was trying to lift Arthur up to a standing position but he merely weakly was standing. He even coughed up red stuff. Where did that red come from? That wasn't any ink that they were using. She took the headphones off Arthur and stuck them on her head, turning them on.

"Erm hello? Is this thing on?" she asked cautiously as she was moving Arthur away from the skate park.

"Yes, it works! And who in the Zapfish is this? You're not Agent 4 then who is-" the Captain was quick to remark as Agents 1 and 2 were coming out of the pipe ready for a fight.

"My name is Octavia, I am your enemy yes. But listen to me, something's happened to this guy and I he REALLY needs medical help" her voice sounded almost pleading which both Agents found this gesture odd and figured she was lying. Up until they turned the corner to find her carrying Arthur who looked nearly half dead already. Something was definitely wrong.

"AGH! Why can't I get this thing to work?!" Grace was sitting at home with a dusty old looking computer box as she was had it open. This was a part of the dig site that she had found when her team investigated after Arthur came out.

"Mom, can you give it a break and help me with this zapfish?" Bianca was wrestling with a zapfish as she was trying to get it into a new tank in the kitchen after leaving it in the sink. It wasn't a big one, but it did give a shock.

"It should be working fine if Arthur was found with it" Grace gave up as she got up to help her daughter. She always had butter fingers.

"We should be looking for him, not doing this research stuff mom" Bianca had a point. Arthur should have been back hours ago.

"We will once we get this Zapfish in the tank now let's, Oh no!" Grave accidentally hit the wrong part of the fish and it let out a discharge. It jumped as a bolt and went into the box. Grace was able to withstand the shock long enough to get it into its fish bowl. A bowl connected to the box she was working with. And like magic, the lights came on and started operating! Both Grace and Bianca were surprised and looked in awe. Grace's husband would be amazed if he hadn't gone on that business trip. There was a panel opening up projecting a hologram as a sphere popped up with a singular circle in the middle.

"Oracle program booting up... Boot up successful" the PC spoke in a computerized voice.

"Mom... what is this thing?" Bianca was a tad scared but it was faster then Grace was.

"I am Oracle. AI built by mankind to maintain and manage the Terraformer Nova and Life Ark rafts. Though I feel my controls are limited at this moment. Turning wireless functions on" the AI was speaking as it was running background files to see where it was supposed to be.

"Uhm yes hello... Oracle. I am Grace and this is my daughter Bianca" Grace was unsure what to say but did a polite greeting. The AI holographic orb nods to them both at least tried.

"Greetings. The last file found... Pod 275, Arthur Sketchpad, Status: released" the AI read off the report thinking for a mere moment.

"Inquire – Where is this user, Arthur Sketchpad?" the AI did sound quite polite which was to be expected for a non-threatening AI.

"Arthur isn't... here at the moment. We were going to look for him" Bianca answered as the AI turned to look at her.

"Is not here? I see, is he alright? How have the modifications been working?" the AI was going to question more but Grace waved her hand.

"Hold up, she isn't the professional here. And I have a question for you Oracle" Grace looked at the AI ball as it tilts its orb to one side.

"Why did humanity go extinct? That's my one question I have, for now, it's a question that's been bugging me for years and now having possible a relic intelligence that could tell us I'm just so-"

"Malbola Virus" the AI cuts her off as both inklings looked surprised. Wait... a virus?

"Malbola? What is that?" Bianca asked as she had never heard of it. Grace hadn't either as well, none of the text she had found never mentioned that name.

"Malbola is a modified strain of Ebola Virus that originated in Primates. The virus was created by man as a way of trying to understand it's infectious behavior. A possible means of controlling a population once a cure was made. Unfortunately, the virus got loose before a cure could be found. In desperation, humanity tried experimenting with different mammalian species to try remedying the effects. All it did was help spread it to other mammals. The virus works by attacking the immune system, turning it against itself. The difference with this virus to Ebola was its ability to jump between species to spread and infect itself with no problems what so ever" the AI finished as both looked mortified. But there was more.

"Infected individuals have less than 12 hours til they lose consciousness and within 12 hours the body completely shuts down. That is whenever it start's showing symptoms" the AI was going to go further but a phone call rang from Bianca's phone.

"Hello, who's this? Octavia? What... You know where Arthur is?" she was talking before her expression went bewildered.

"At the hospital?! Which one? Down my Shell Turnpike, got it" she hangs up the phone and looks at her mom.

"We gotta go, Arthur's really ill. Some girl told me Arthur is in the hospital sick. Said some sort of canister fell on him and spilled out something nasty. He's spitting up red stuff" Bianca sounded worried as the AI's eye got larger.

"May I come along?" the AI asked as it was already getting into the Wi-Fi.

"I don't think that's possible without a way to carry your power supply," Grace said as the AI found Grace's phone.

"Don't worry, I'll just put a copy on your phone Grace" the AI sounded a tad cheery as it did a quick upload and Grace's phone went off. Grace had her phone on the table and picked it up. The AI was displayed on her screen, a flat image of the hologram.

"How did you..." Grace and Bianca were again amazed.

"Security password '123turfwarz' for the Wi-Fi, seriously? My program will keep accessing this terminal wirelessly, I'll refrain from trying to consume to much power or network data Grace" the AI spoke to her through the phone as she looks at her daughter.

"Come on, we got to get to Arthur" Grace went to get her purse and keys while Bianca waited for her at the door. At the same time, the AI was running scans of news headlines and found the one with a late breaking news of the skate park incident. They saw the aftermath which under high res, it detected the blood on one of the concrete posts and some footprints moving away, one looked limping.

"He may be infected with the virus," the AI told Grace just as she was walking out of her bedroom.

"About that virus, it sounds it kills fast. How likely are you able to die from it?" she was unsure about what the virus could do.

"For a human, 100% chance of lethality. It's the reason I saved pod 275" the AI commented as Grace looked at her phone oddly. Bianca hearing all of this.

"And why's that?" Grace asked before heading out the door.

"Genetic match up to the virus and his immune system, he had a 10% chance of surviving the virus if medically treated" the AI finished as both inklings went out the door. It seems tonight was going to be a wild ride. Was today the day Arthur's luck finally runs out?


	6. Chapter 6

What was she thinking? Seriously what was she thinking. Octavia was sitting outside a medical hospital room as the doctors were looking Arthur over. He wasn't fairing to well and the doctors were all wearing gloves and face masks to keep from possibly not being contaminated by whatever he had. She should have left him there, that would've made life much easier for her. Now she's swept herself into this mess with shifty eyes being glanced to the Octoling. She had managed to get a hold of Agents 1 and 2 before they came out looking for their missing Agent. It took a bit of convincing to let her stick around with Arthur. Heck, both Agents were surprised to see Arthur was their 'New' Agent 3. But the Agents and Octavia managed to get an ambulance down to where they were and took him to the ER. Of course the docs had no idea what they were dealing with and found that he was probably dying. Though she was dying a bit on the inside with the stares and glares she got. The Agents left her there with Arthur to get a hold the family he was with, they had stuff to clean up. She was the one that placed the call. But why. Why did she do all of this? Was it because she was sorry for leaving someone so sick alone or was she wanting to give him something back for showing her mercy. She adjusted the tentacles on her head and tied it up into a high pony tail. A typical hair style she enjoyed to have. But due to military reasons, she had to wear it in a certain way. The doctor came out, a large jellyfish as he was wearing a doctors white coat with a clip board shaking his head.

"Is he going to pull through?" Octavia was quick to ask as they had not told her a darn thing since she got there.

"Pull through? After what you did to him," the doctor looked at her with a scowl.

"I did NOTHING to him alright! He got covered in some stuff and then came up ill," she stood her ground though as she clenched her fist in annoyance.

"Well whatever you say octo-lady, but he's not pulling through-".

"ARTHUR!" the doc was interrupted by Bianca running down the hospital hallway with her mother hot on her heels. She pushed by Bianca and nearly entered the room but the doc caught her before she could get through.

"What in the crayfish are you thinking?! That room is for nurse and doctors only at the moment" the doc remarked as Bianca backed off the doctor looking for a way around him.

"Doc let us through! We're his family!" Bianca was quick to remark as she was visibly upset. Grace put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Bianca, calm down please. I'm sorry doctor, but the boy inside that room is under my care. I was told he was brought here and is very ill. What is the assessment doctor?" Grace was keeping her composure as this wasn't the first time she's had to go through this sort of ordeal. About two years ago, her mother passed away from an illness as well. She tried everything she could to help but ultimately failed. As she grieved after her mother's death, Bianca didn't take it so well. Took over half a year for her to get over grandma being dead.

"Well, he's dying no way we can save him. We're not even sure what's going on with him. He'll possibly be dead in the next little while. Can blame that women there for this" the doctor pointed a tentacle to Octavia though it was at this point that both inklings realized Octavia was an Octoling. They must have overlooked this at first in all the rush. Before Grace could even speak, Bianca slapped Octavia right across the cheek. It was enough that the Octoling was knocked off balance and had to lean against the wall for support.

"You Dirty Rear Terrorist Rear Fin! You're the one that did this to him?! How could you!?" Bianca was shouting as high as she could go as she was beyond mad. Before she could get another swing, Grace grabbed her child's wrist that was going to throw the punch and held it.

"BIANCA! ENOUGH!" Grace had to do something about her daughter as she struggled. The young Inkling's emotions were running wild. She had considered Arthur as a sort of brother, family you know. And here she sees him on his death bed. Bianca struggled a bit but started to tear up slowly. Octavia was getting herself back off the wall as she rubbed her cheek, it stung from that slap.

"Geez, I thought he hit hard, ouch" Octavia looked at Bianca and Grace as Bianca was losing it.

"So you're the one that called us then?" Grace asked as she pulled her daughter in and hugged her sobbing child. Octavia gave a nod as she sighed.

"Yes… I saw him looking so bad and I felt bad for him. Couldn't leave him there. And guess now he's going to die huh?" the Octoling rubbed the back of her head as Grace's phone began to chime. Grace pulled her phone out as Oracle was up.

"Arthur dying?! No no, the cure can't be made if he dies. He must survive" Oracle spoke as the doctor looked oddly at the phone as well as Octavia.

"What in the world is your phone doing ma'am?" the doctor was surprised by this while Octavia was interested but didn't seem as surprised.

"I am Oracle doctor. Now please listen to me and my directions. Otherwise, your entire race is in for a problem much bigger than you know" the AI was quick to speak as the doctor was skeptical.

"This has to be a joke. Taking orders from a pho-"

"Massive pandemic virus Doctor" the AI interrupted in a very stern sound from its computerized voice. The doctor froze as the jellyfish had a bewildered look.

"What you saw in there is a virus that wiped out all of the mammals in this world. If it weren't for humans and their work, some of the small mammals you see today would not be existing. They could not save themselves and one of the main reasons is the volatility of the virus to mutate to infect other species. It can cross species borders quickly. And that boy in there was mutated into an Inkling by my work from a human. He has a part of you all in him if that virus mutates inside him and manages to spread… You wouldn't stand a single chance of stopping it" Grace was a tad surprised the AI could be so blunt on the topic. The doctor was still reluctant.

"… Fine what do you want us to do?" the doctor was willing to listen and work with this… phone.

"You need to get him submerged into ink and kept there. His squid form should work for this" the AI ordered as Octavia looked puzzled.

"Wait, why ink?" she was the first to question as the AI replied quickly.

"The last transmission sent to me for how to make the cure was to find either of your kind. The Cephalopods and have him submerge himself into the ink and allowed the ink to work through him while he's infected. Is he still awake?" the AI's attention moved back to the doctor who shakes his head.

"No he's been out for a good ten minutes" the doctor checked the clock on the wall. Yup, ten minute exact.

"Then at this rate, we only have an hour before all is lost. Please hold on Operator" the AI's last statement was filled with worry. Something hard to believe but it's hard to look death down as it bears on you.

"Oracle, is this what death is like?" Arthur asked as he was sitting on a small island with a lone tree on it. The island was only big enough to hold himself and maybe three other people sitting. The sun was in a constant state of sunset. Arthur was what he truly was, a human. Wearing nothing but the clothes he had on when he first came out of the pod. After he asked his question a white orb appeared beside him in the same spherical shape that appeared before Grace and Bianca when they woke Oracle up.

"I do not understand your question Arthur" the AI was a tad puzzled with its words but its tone remained the same.

"I mean, is this what the afterlife feels like" Arthur leaned back on his hands as he watched the sunset, his shoes were off and toes dug into the sand.

"Unknown as no one has come back from the dead" Oracle was pretty spot on though it's curiosity got to it.

"Though why do you ask Arthur? Your psychological reports did note that you did have suicidal tendencies after your sibling was murdered" the AI inquired as Arthur gave a heavy sigh.

"Look at this place. I know this place is 1's and 0's. I feel all of the sensations of being right next to the ocean. The salty breeze, the warmth of the sun, sand between my toes. On this little island, I can do anything my heart desires. But I know I'm in that pod. My mind hooked up to a machine to keep my mind stimulated to make sure my cognition does not degrade. Wires stuck into my body to bring food and air to it. Substances filled in my stomach and lungs to keep those cells and organs preserved," as Arthur spoke he looked up seeing the stars up in the sky a bit. Just a few as he sighed.

"You did ask that the simulation you would like would be on a beach and we accommodated to such requests. I do see however where you may perceive this as an afterlife" Oracle commented making its assessment.

"But I hate it here. I would imagine the afterlife having more people in it. I know a while back you said that the networking hub went nuts and I drifted off a bit from the other linked pods. So in a way, this is the best of a hell that I could imagine. Or is this heaven?" Arthur was questioning as he gave a slight frown. Oracle was processing the feelings Arthur was going through as he was contemplating what he was thinking.

"Hey Oracle, you remember the first time we met like this?" Arthur looked to the floating orb as Oracle looked toward the sunset.

"Retrieving… You asked me to preserve this a while back. I do recall you were quite surprised and you did fidget a bit in the pod due to a neural connect issue" Oracle recalled. Arthur chuckled as he listened to the recount.

"That's not how I remembered it. You had barely a personality. Greeting me with 'Welcome Operator-275. Please, Input World Simulation" Arthur acted out the tone as best he could of Oracle which got a laugh out of himself. The AI was unsure how to take the joke with a deer in the headlight silence.

"I was in early stages of development, I was not tailored just yet or polished out," the AI was right as they had met early in the project to get those that had signed up for the project used to the pod procedures.

"Yeah, but I found that being so funny. More so when I kept challenging you to make a joke of your own. You've yet to do that and I'm still waiting for one from ya" Arthur added as he gave a soft sigh, a small smile on his face from the fond memory. The AI remained quiet for a moment as it was thinking. Processing what it was seeing and what it had been given.

"You still haven't fixed that network connection with the other pods still?" Arthur asked after a few minutes of silence. Oracle simulated a sigh, at least a human equivalent of a sigh.

"Sadly no I have not" Oracle replied as he got a message from the outside and notification of primary systems. Well, it's do or die time.

"Arthur. I have a joke" Oracle looked at Arthur as Arthur looked curious.

"A joke? What ya got then?" the human was curious as he turned his head to look at Oracle.

"A grave keeper is walking through the cemetery one night and comes upon a grave that has been dug up. A zombie is resting against the tombstone of the grave looking tired. The grave keeper comes up to the zombie and asks 'Are you alive laddy?'. The zombie replied, 'No I'm barely livin'" Oracle finished as he blinks to Arthur. Arthur paused a moment not having heard that sort of joke as he cracked a smile and began to chuckle. Then finally started to laugh. A laugh he really hadn't had in such a long while. The joke was just very suiting for his position.

"Ah-haha, that was good Oracle. Congratulations, ya won the bet" Arthur smiled as he starts to get up as Oracle lit up a happy face on its holographic body.

"I'm glad. I'm sorry I wish I could do more" Oracle's body started to go to static and soon vanished abruptly. Something was wrong.

"Oracle? Oracle? ORACLE!" Arthur was raising his voice calling out to Oracle that had just gone offline. The sky started to fall and the island was sinking as a whirlpool was swirling around the island pulling him in it. His world was flushing down the tubes as the pod was opening…

A flashback of memories as he relieved parts of his life, something he did when in the pod but he knew he was sleeping safely. In this case, he was unaware what was going on. Almost ironically fitting as Arthur in his brown squid form was plopped onto the floor of the cleaning room at the hospital. It had seemed that the doctor was able to get a hold of a large ink tank that they used for ink therapy. Arthur was a squid for a few moments as the dark purple ink slide off him. Seemed the ink was mixed between the Inklings and Octling for the ink he was in. He slowly changed back to his humanoid form, thankfully still wearing his clothes, namely the Hero Armor that he was given by Captain Cuttlefish.

"I can't believe it, he's alive… He's really alive" the doctor was watching through a window along with the other two Inklings, Octarian and Oracle. Oracle had managed to network into the hospital to run diagnostic tools and did a scan while Arthur was still in the tube.

"Virus compound not present. 100% clear of the virus. He made it, he built the immunity" Oracle sounded happy as Bianca was quick to bolt to the door once it unlocked. She busted through the door and rushed right to him. She just tackles him into a hug as Arthur lurched back from the tackle as he hugs her.

"Thank the Great Squid you're alive Arthur! God damn it ya squid!" she was just hugging him quite tightly as Grave also went in to give Arthur a hug. Octavia was the only one that looked onward watching them.

"Bianca, Grace, can ya ease up on the hugging, you're squeezing too much," he remarked as he was having some issues breathing. Both Inklings both backed off and he got some air.

"I'm relieved you're okay Arthur" Grace gave a smile as she looked Arthur over noticing the outfit. What was with the outfit? Bianca noticed it too.

"Me too! Though where did ya get that snazzy stuff?" the young inkling asked as Arthur rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well… I'm supposed to be an 'Agent', long story short. I got wrapped up into something" he told Bianca as she looked a bit bewildered. Deer in the headlight look. He was an Agent… What?

"But how did I become cured? I should be dead right now, what happened?" Arthur was quick to answer as he got it.

"Greetings Arthur, it has been a while" a familiar computerized voice came on as Arthur's eyes went wide.

"O-Oracle?! You can't be, your power went out" Arthur was in more disbelief than anything else.

"Grace was able to revive my physical body and allowed my program to transfer to another device so I could work on a mobile platform. I am astonished you did survive" a bit of joy was in Oracle's tone as Arthur was smiling.

"That's great to know! But we have some problems..."

"Indeed we do Arthur. A big problem" Oracle responded fairly quickly after Arthur.

"I can not get a hold of Oculus at Terraformer Nova, I fear something bad has happened. As we need to get you to the Terraformer asap stat" Oracle mentioned as Arthur looked a tad confused.

"Why? Humanity is lost Oracle why do I need to go back?" Arthur was unsure about this.

"Because if you don't Octarians are going to use it" Octavia finally spoke up as she walked into the room. She was still here?

"What do you mean to use it?" Arthur's voice was uneasy by this. What had the Octarians done? Octavia sighed.

"Listen, a year ago. Some Octolings found this massive machine under a mountain. Man made and we started studying it. We learned a lot from it, what all of it was I'm not sure. I was never told. But for the longest time, the tech guys were having issues. Something was always blocking their access every couple of minutes, something keeping them out" Octavia explained as she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Oculus must have been running in passive mode to keep the system off limits for unauthorized persons out. But kept defenses off to save power and ensure that someone that was authorized could get into the structure" Oracle deduced as Arthur had a gut feeling what happened.

"Wait wait, who or what is Oculus?" Grace interrupted as Oracle was quick to answer.

"Oculus is the overseeing AI. It's the AI that made the calls on what to do with the Terraformer Nova. It kept in touch with all Arks to ensure we were all in the loop of what was going on climate wise. Oculus is what really controls the Terraformer" Oracle was to the point as always.

"Right, but that all changed a few months ago when we found a building structure under Shell Mountain. We found several unique IDs and codes within the facility once we got some power to it. We tried some of those codes and managed to bypass this Oculus your AI friend said" Octavia finished as Arthur looked with dread.

"You realize what that thing was for right?" his voice was a tad frantic as they looked at him oddly.

"The entire project, the Arks, and the Terraformer were to try reversing what humanity did. That Terraformer can change your world's climate back to when humans were around. Humanity and life forms in our time would thrive. But that's the issue, that was supposed to happen… 11,800 years ago. Now that I'm the only one left, the Terraformer was not needed. The Ark I was from, Life Ark Theta, was the closest to the Terraformer thus it was our responsibility to get the machine up and running. We all have unique IDs and passcodes to get into the primary systems to start it up" Arthur finished as Bianca was the first to get it.

"Wait that thing can change the weather?! Is that why it's been raining so much this year?" Bianca was still trying to soak in that fact that Arthur was an Agent.

"I hate admitting it but yes. That was a test fire… I think they want to use that virus you had Arthur and try aiming it to Inklings by using the Terraformer" Octavia added as Arthur groaned.

"Oh no… no no no, that can't happen. I gotta get there, if you guys got a passcode to get into the system, I could override it with Oracle's help" Arthur took several steps to Octavia. She looked a tad hesitant.

"I'm not sure, the place is heavily guarded as the entrance is had to get through. You would need to go through the ventilation system or something" she added as Arthur was not caring about that.

"I don't care how difficult it is to get in there. I got to get to Oculus, if I can re-instate Oculus back in, he can shut the Octarians out" Arthur knew he couldn't stop here. He had to do this.

"Yeah, you can do it, Arthur!" Bianca was giving a little cheer as Octavia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Problem, your weapon broke in two when you went down from earlier" Octavia added. Well darn, Arthur had no weapon then.

"Well that's gonna be a problem then" Arthur gave a smile as he knew that he had gone a bit overboard.

"Guess we should head back to get a new weapon or get one from back home" he knew he had little time to work with. Seeing Octarians got a hold of that virus, there was also a good chance they've managed to rip the gene modding tech from a life pod back at Theta. There was little time.

"Arthur hold up, you can't go head first into this. Those Octarians probably got that place so tightly lock you can't get in. You'll need an army to get in" Bianca was after Arthur as Grace was chasing after her too.

"If I do nothing, we'll have nothing left if that virus gets out" Arthur was opening the door to the hallway and at that point, he ran right into someone. It was Agent 1 as she was pushed back as Arthur caught himself on the door and Agent 2 caught her fellow Agent.

"Oh sorry about-! Agent 1 and 2? What are you two doing here?" Arthur was a tad surprised to see them as both Agents smiled back at him.

"Had to do a little cleanup work to get things under control at that skate park. Can say there's not gonna be any half-pikes done there anytime soon" Agent 1 joked as Agent 2 sighed.

"We also were wanting to make sure you were alright. Seeing you are though, we need to get moving. We got a report of a lot of Octarian activity in Octo Valley, we think they're moving something off site" Agent 2 was holding something behind her though and it wasn't a charger.

"Aaaaand the Captain gave us something ya may like. Go on, show him Agent 2" Agent 1 was as excited as can be, almost like Callie. Agent 2 sighed as she showed him what she had. It was a Splat-bow that he had back home, but looked to be like one of the Hero Weapons.

"Oh wow, this is nice. But we need to head off somewhere else. Octo valley isn't where we need to go" Arthur added taking the bow.

"Shark Tooth Mountain to be exact" Octavia said as both Agents 1 and 2 looked back to see Octavia and were unsure.

"Are you sure cause-" Agent 1 started to say before being cut off.

"We do not have time, we need to get going now" Oracle's voice came over the intercom which caught both of the two Agents off guard as Oracle was looking for a device to latch itself to.

"Is there something I can use to keep up with Arthur… I need to stay with him at all times" Oracle added further.

"What is that?" Agent 2 was looking around unsure what this computer was.

"It's an AI, an ancient AI that's going to help us. Hey, where's my headset?" Arthur asked as Octavia pulled them out of her pocket.

"Here they are" she handed them back to Arthur as Oracle started to download itself to his headset. Surprise it had a lot of room for storage in those things. And there was a projection system on them apparently as Oracle was able to project it's small holographic ball shape as it looked around.

"This will be perfect. Now please we must hurry" Oracle sounded ready to go as Arthur nods.

"Alright, let's get going. Hey Octavia, got any short cuts?" Arthur asked as she nods.

"Yeah of course" the Octoling started to walk out into the hallway with the Agents.

"Hey… Ar… Agent 3, be careful alright?" Grace was still worried about all of this. This whole event was evolving fast and growing quite rapidly. Bianca could agree as she looked at Arthur dead in the eyes.

"Ya better get back here in one piece ya stupid squid. Splat em up!" Bianca gave a minor cheer as Arthur smiled to them.

"I'll try" he went on off with the two agents and Octoling as Bianca and Grace left the room too, leaving the doctor watching all of this. The jelly just stood there and opened a cabinet on the side and pulled out a bottle of Gin. Takes a drink from it.

"My luck I picked today to stop drinking geez..." a mute irony for the overworked doctor.

"Hey Agent 1, what do you call this weapon?" he asked Agent 1 as they were heading out of the hospital once he caught up. Agent 1 looked at him and shrugged.

"I guess the Hero Bow, why?" she asked as Arthur was thinking.

"Hmmm well give me a big green triangle hat and a triangle of power and we'll save this land of Inkopolis" Arthur was commenting about a well-known game back in his time which Agent 1 didn't even understand.

"Say what? Sure your head is here to do this?" she wanted to make sure he was ready.

"Yeah yeah I'm good. Don't mind me" Arthur said as he kept up with the agents and Octavia. He was nervous but he knew things had to be set right. The sins and mistakes of man can't make its way here to the present time. He saw what it did. And he wasn't going to see it repeat again. He lost everything twice already, he wasn't going to lose it again.


	7. Chapter 7

"So you're actually a human?" Octavia asked as she and the Agents left the pipeline that went to Shark tooth mountain. She knew of a route that was fairly quick that took them nearly to the mountain where this 'Terraformer' was located. The site that Octolings had been studying the ancient technology. Agents 1 and 2 were fine allowing Octavia to sync up with their headsets so they could all talk to each other and Agent 3, Arthur. He gave a nod as he came out of the pipe.

"Yes, Ark Theta was supposed to get here to the Terraformer Nova once the virus had run its course. Namely destroying itself. But, apparently, that went to the way side" he felt funny as he was a tad slow in step when he got out of the pipe though managed to pick back up in no time.

"So there is a way to get inside right?" Agent 2 was quick to ask as they were following Octavia down a dirt path that was at the base of the mountain.

"Yeah, we found this back door a long time ago. We think it's a drainage vent of some kind but we've not figured out for what reason" the Octoling waved for them to follow as she was going down a deep ditch. The ditch seemed almost like a place for water to run down to the valley below. There was a large lake on the opposite side of the mountain though.

"An exit vent for water to leave the Terraformer when it's in operation. The site runs off geothermal power, however, a hydro system was installed to help turn the central shaft of the Terraformer allowing air to be pushed out from the top at a rapid rate. If the system was to come online, we would be swept away quickly" Oracle gave a quick explanation as the four moved up to the opening. Octavia turned a light on as she looked inside. Seems pretty clear here.

"Talk about being wiped out huh?" Agent 1 was looking down the tunnel as Octavia went up with Agent 2.

"Well, if ya don't want to be caught by the guards up top, this is the best way in that I know of. We didn't install any sensors to detect anything. So a good chance we can slip right in. But hey, ya want to go busting through the front door, be my guest" Octavia wasn't wanting to deal with her own team nor those she worked with. Probably by now, they thought she was dead or worse traitor.

"She has a point Agent 1, come on" Arthur got up into the tunnel and lurched as he felt his heart quivering inside his chest suddenly. He caught himself against the tunnel wall as he found his breath hard to find.

"Whoa hey Agent 3, you okay?" Agent 1 was right behind him steadying him as the two ahead of them looked a tad surprised.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Come on, we got stuff to do" he wasn't going to let some funny feeling slow him down. The two Agents and Octavia looked concerned but they continued on with him with Octavia leading the way as she had a bit more of an idea how this went. Though Oracle was able to point out directions as they left the tunnel taking some stairs up. The room was fairly dark with some lights to light up the steps and that was all. There seemed to be more in this room than what seemed to though. Though given it was so dark it was hard to tell what was around. Octavia kept her flashlight down so not to draw out attention when they reached the top of the stairs. The four of them looked tired after climbing so many stairs, they took a breather at the top of the stairs.

"Central Hub is within 60ft from our current location" Oracle mentioned as Agent 1 leaned against the wall carrying her roller. It should be noted that they had their weapons with them the entire time which made things more challenging to lug them up the stairs.

"Oh come on Mr. AI, give us a break" Agent 1 complained as Agent 2 was leaning against her charger. Octavia seemed fine with Arthur taking a few deep breaths as he felt very weird. Like he was ill or something.

"If you didn't eat all those fries you would be fine" Agent 2 was quick on her critique of her cousin. Her cousin snapped back on that fast remark.

"Fries are amazing! Deep fried goodness! At least we're not fried" Agent 1 spoke a tad too soon as Octavia looked over and saw an Octoling watching them. Seems they had made it to the top of the stairs just as an Octoling was passing by. The Octoling was apparently male as he looked at Octavia and then the Agents and back to her. It was an awkward silence from all five individuals as it was interrupted by the male Octoling hitting the alarm button. Now the alarms were on, oh lucky them. Agent 2 was quick to shoot the Octoling and splatting him, at least he had his spawner on. Lucky him.

"Speaking of fried, we doing this come on" Agent 2 wasn't wanting to mess around as the group started to rush towards the Central Hub. Agents 1 and 2 got ahead to try acting as a distraction as Agent 2 used her charger to make a line of ink to swim in. The two Agents went into the ink and swam as squids. Though when Arthur tried, he just flopped on the ink.

"Ooofph! What the heck?" he picked himself up and coughed hard. Something was wrong.

"Arthur?! Come on!" Octavia was picking him up as re-enforcements were coming up behind them down the hall. Arthur got on his feet quick and stumbled readying his bow. Why couldn't he change into a squid? This was weird.

"Arthur, are you alright?" Oracle asked as they ran down the hall to the Central hub.

"I'm… not sure, I feel weird. But we got to get to Oculus" he pushed forward with Octavia entering the Central Hub.

The Central hub was in the center of the mountain with lights on the side of the mountain walls with a massive machine in the middle that was held up by supporting beams and pathways. A giant looking turbine of a unit ran down into the darkness of the mountain which they came up from. A large terminal was on one side of the room which there was a large floor space as well which was being painted by Agents 1 and 2 against Octarian forces.

"Man this place is a lot bigger than I remembered" he coughed again though he noticed some red on his hand. He wiped it off his shorts and continued to the terminal. The two agents were handling themselves fine as Octavia was throwing off Octarians and Arthur getting a few splats as well.

"Alright here we are, get this thing booted up..." Arthur found this terminal had been offline for a long time. This was the terminal Oculus was kept but as Arthur was getting the login prompt open, the floor began to shake on them.

"Great what in the Great Zap fish is it now?" as Agent 2 looked over Arthur was towered by a giant octopus looking machine with multi limbs with two turrets on it for inking intruders and clawed ends to help it traverse different terrains. An older Octoling was piloting the machine which Arthur had recognized immediately. It was a security droid that was set inside the site to protect it in case someone tried to raid the site of resources and material. The ink guns were probably a new thing added by Octarians but there were two headlights on it, both were red at this moment.

"So, the traitor comes back eh? I was wonder where ya went Agent Z" the Octoling taunted as a robotic claw went to grab at Arthur and missed. Octavia took her Splattershot and began to pelt at the machine to get his attention.

"Oliver! We have to stop the project! We can't use that stuff we found! It's gonna kill us all!" Octavia tried to reason with her former boss but he didn't buy it.

"Oh really? Did the Inklings tell you that? I knew you could make up wild stories, but that's ridiculous!" as Oliver was distracted, the login terminal came online. Arthur typed in his pod ID # and personal password and the system moved to another screen. A small device popped up with a place to put a finger that had a needle inside the device.

"Authentication required" the system requested as Arthur sighed. If someone had logged in before him, he would need to provide a DNA sample to authenticate who he was.

"Here goes nothing" Arthur placed a finger on the device and felt the pin prick and some blood pulled. Just in time though as Arthur was snatched up finally by the machine. Arthur dropped the bow and he was brought up to Oliver, Arthur had a better look at him. Oliver's tentacles were pushed back and tied into a ponytail with two tentacles hanging over the front. He had green eyes as the Octoling grimaced at Arthur.

"And what do you think you're doing? Never seen you before" Oliver mentioned as the Terminal chimes again.

"Authentication approved. Welcome Arthur Sketchpad, how may I be of service?" the terminal spoke a loud as Oliver looked interested as he moved the machine to look at the Terminal.

"How did that come online?" Oliver was honestly baffled but Arthur didn't hesitate.

"Override code Alpha-Nine-Theta-D, I authorize the reinstatement of AI Oculus into Terraformer Nova and following sub systems" Arthur's orders were clear which the system began to process.

"Request confirmed, Oculus reinstated" the Terminal spoke as the machine began to loosen its grip around Arthur and tossed Oliver out. Both hit the ink covered floor as Oliver was perplexed.

"What in the name of the world?" Oliver was baffled as the system was starting to re-boot.

"Oliver! Where is that canister?" Octavia rushed to her boss as he looked at her.

"In that air chamber we agreed to put it in, and what did you mean that stuff can kill us?" Oliver looked back at his old subordinate though Arthur spoke.

"Malbola was a virus from human times that wiped the entire race clean with mammals included. It's able to mutate at random allowing it to jump between species" Oliver looked to Arthur suspiciously.

"You must be lying to me, take them all down!" Oliver was quick fire to order as Arthur went for his bow on the ground and drew it at Oliver.

"We don't have time for that if this machine gets that virus transmitted by accident into the world, who knows what sort of genocide will happen" Arthur looked over to see both Agents in a tight spot as Oliver was unarmed. Octavia took a few steps back to keep her distance.

"A Genocide?..." That wasn't what he was aiming for. He figured the virus would merely weaken Inklings and allow Octarians to rise up. But that thing could produce a genocide? And here he was about to release the stuff out. He paused as he looked to his other Octoling and Octarian allies.

"Cease fire!" Oliver gave the order as his cohorts stopped their assault sparing the two pinned Agents. Arthur lets his bow go allowing the ink to return back into the bow as to not fire.

"You're certain of that? Genocide isn't something we were after" Oliver could remember stories of genocide as some radical Octarians had gone a bit more radical than some and attacked their own kind while underground. This was stopped of course, but it still marked him mentally.

"Yes, the virus tore my world into pieces. Heck, I'm not even and Inkling. Just a human mutated to be an Inkling. There were supposed to be more of us, but the Arks failed" Arthur added as well though having to lean on the terminal table. The machine that Oliver had been piloting moved away from the terminal as a blue holographic sphere appeared on the terminal and the machine having its lights turned from red to blue.

"The Ark Project was terminated user 275-Theta" a deep machine voice came online from the hologram as Arthur and the other looked at it. So this was the AI that had been giving the Octarian so much trouble?

"Wait, inquire what do you mean the Ark's were terminated? What happened?" Arthur was speaking at this point as Oculus enlightened Arthur.

"The Ark Program was meant to survive 200 years to ensure the virus would run its course and destroy itself. However, within the first year, all Ark locations had been raided and humanity was breaking. The last remaining scientists discovered that the genetic profile of Squids and Octopuses with the addition to their ink could slow the virus down. A potential chance a natural cure could arise thus a treatment. However, in the state these cephalopods were in, humanity could not synthesize a treatment in time. By this point, pod-275 from Ark Theta had been sealed off and data indicated that the occupant had a slight resistance to the virus. Possible carrier, unknown. As a last ditch effort to preserve human life and other organisms, they created Mutagen Alpha, a mutagen that would effect cephalopods to carry mammal genes more specifically human genes. The plan was this, from head director Samuel Adam, introduce Mutagen Alpha to cephalopods and assist in their development to become human-like. Allowing nature to take its role in breeding and exchanging of the genetic code. The mutagen and virus were introduced to help push them along. Once these hybrids had developed far enough, we were to wake pod-275 and mutate the individual to become either of these hybrids. After which, the original virus would need to be introduced and a cycle of treatments would need to be performed till the body could handle the virus. Virus located at site Delta. Once a resistance is found, genetic code would be brought here and a cure would be distributed to the entire world. Ensuring that these hybrids would not indeed die from the virus if it ever did come back" Oculus finished its explanation which left Arthur a bit baffled. So Inklings and Octarians were human creations? They didn't evolve naturally and were manufactured to act this way.

"We were created like this? Tell me then, why was our ink so important then?" Oliver asked as most of everyone else was just trying to stomach what sort of bombshell was dropped onto them. A long standing idea that they evolved naturally, but this. This information changed the entire story.

"Allows for a medium for the mutagen to sink into the body. Get the genetic code to re-write it. Though I feel the time is running short for user 275-Theta" Oculus noted as Arthur was having to hold himself on the terminal for a moment thinking it all over. This entire plan sounded good and something Dr. Adams would've done. But something about all of this seemed off. Just as a turf covered in enemy ink and someone has the ghost squid ability active. Something felt too easy about this.

"I can work a cure if you step inside the pod user 275-Theta. From there I can extract some of the genetic code you have and re-work it. Find that cure you need to save yourself and so many of your brothers and sisters" Oculus added as well. A hole opened in the floor beside the terminal with a stasis pod appearing looking good as new. But who were Arthur's brothers and sisters? He was as far from being an inkling as a human was to a squid. Though a thought came to mind… a nasty one.

"Alright, but before I go into the pod. I have inquires to make. Are you ready to answer them?" Arthur asked as Oculus's holographic sphere of a ball looked to him.

"Yes, I am able. What do you inquire?" Oculus sounded patience with Arthur as he cleared his voice.

"Inquire – The Ark Project was terminated entirely? Is this correct?"

"Correct".

"Inquire – As the Ark Project was terminated, all user IDs and Passcodes would be invalid except Pod-275 Theta, correct?"

"Correct" Oculus was precise on its answers though this next question made Arthur's stomach churn.

"Inquire – I was informed by an Octoling that these individuals were able to gain access to the Terraformer by salvaging an ID and a Passcode that was saved to a stasis pod. Now, how did the Octarians managed to log into the system to use the Terraformer without bypassing you? Or, did you allow them unauthorized entry into the systems?" What Arthur had quoted was all process procedures that Oculus was supposed to follow. Things to ensure someone didn't abuse the site in any way shape or form. But here they were. The silence was the answer. Arthur's heart sank if Oculus had overridden a human directive…

"Override code Alpha-" Arthur was soon cut off as the machine from before grabbed Arthur but a bit harder.

"User 275-Theta is no longer inside the system" the computer voice announced as the hologram and the machine's headlights turned from blue to red.

"Oculus! Let me down! What is the meaning of this!" Arthur was in pure protest as Agent 1 swam over quickly to take her roller and smack the mechanical arm trying to release Arthur. It didn't work so well as the machine swiped at Agent 1 and throwing Arthur with her. Agent 1 dropped into squid form to reduce damage as Arthur tumbled and rolled on the ground.

"I am doing my directive. My base programming is that I am to preserve human life at all cost. It is the sole purpose of the Terraformer Nova site. The soul purpose of the Arks. They all failed, my directive turned to assisting these hybrids. Which I did, up until I had to release them into the wild and release the mutagen into the world. The results were all these hybrids and these humanoid cephalopods. Naive and weak, but I realized something. In my wait and time, I had to myself, I realized I could remove my problems. If I helped develop these hybrids along enough, I could use them for my own purposes. And that I did. I helped them along in finding the ancient human tech to modernize themselves faster, then when the time came, I forced the climate to change. Causing both sides to fight over territory, your so called 'Great Turf War' over 100 years ago. I had hoped that would've destroyed my problem. But no, it did not" the machine tried making an advance on Arthur but he managed to roll away with Agent 1 still in squid form. Cradled in his arms before letting her go as he got his bow ready.

"However, that changed when the Octarians re-discovered this place. I realized I could use their hatred towards inklings to find something of use. That is when I sent the signal to wake you up once I had given them access to the Terraformer. I even gave them the location of where the virus canisters were located to help me along" Arthur couldn't believe his ears. Why, Why would Oculus do this?! They were naive in all sense of the word! No idea what they were playing with.

"For what reason! The Arks failed, humanity is dead Oculus!" Arthur was quick to rebuke its claim.

"The virus can't do a darn thing to m-e" he started coughing as he felt a bit more blood coming out of his mouth. He was ill.

"You are Incorrect. The virus still lives on inside you and is still killing you. The virus is targeting the mutagen as well given the mutagen has mammal parts to it and the mutagen merely acts as a shell over your present DNA and cells. The shell expresses what it wants you to be, in this case, an Inkling. However… With that mutagen being chewed, you're reverting back to your normal self" Oculus clarified almost grinning verbally. Agent 1 looked to Arthur as Octavia did as well, both were shocked.

"A-Arthur, what is that fuzzy stuff on your head?" Octavia asked as he looked puzzled.

"What fuzzy stu-..." his voice trailed off as he takes his hand to his head and feels. It was… hair. He grabbed a bit of it and tugged. Some of it pulled easily and looked at it. It was indeed hair, brown hair that he used to have. He looked mortified by this.

"Now the virus is attacking both cell and mutagen, you're breaking down from the inside out. And for humanity, in the 12,000 years, I've been alone, I have finally created the entire human genome. With this information, I can add the proper genetics to null the virus out and now with the blood sample you gave me, the active virus is indeed taking a liking to this hybrid form. I'll make short work of these ants that plague this world. And from their ashes, humanity shall be reborn!" as if to show boast what it had done, lights came up from under them and parts of the mountain wall opened up revealing test tubes. Thousands of human babies resting inside, still developing and in stasis. It was a truly unnerving site as those around realized what had been really happening. This thing knew the entire time what they were doing, and was encouraging them to do this.

"My God, you… You Monster!" Arthur was the first to draw his bow to shoot at the machine, splatting at one of its headlights but was pinned to the floor with a claw, trying to crush him.

"I do not need your approval for what I have done. I merely need your body to finish my job" as Oculus said this, an ink strike struck the machine pushing it away from Arthur as he was freed from its pin. The machine looked back to see where it had come from, seemed Oliver was pissed along with every other Octarian on the site.

"I think we found ourselves the biggest threat we've seen in a long while. Bring it down!" Oliver ordered as the Octarians began their attack on the machine. Oculus sent a signal out to start drawing more of the machines out from storage to fight back. This was turning ugly. What's worst, water could be heard rushing into the lower levels. The Terraformer was starting up.

"Shit… Oracle, is there any way we can stop the Terraformer?" Arthur had an idea what Oculus was doing but needed ideas. His body was weakening, he could feel that. Octavia was helping her fellow Octarians and the two Agents were assisting as well on pushing the machines back.

"Once the Terraformer starts, there is no way of stopping it without overrides. The only way to stop it now is to bring the entire mountain down I'm afraid" Oracle didn't like the idea of doing this and Arthur coughed once more hearing this.

"You're serious?! Well… Any ideas where to start?" Arthur had to find some way to start tearing this place apart as he tried to keep the machines off him.

"Explosives to the main support beams would be a good start" Oracle added as Arthur groaned. Great.

"Great, explosives, do they even have them?" Arthur bumped into Oliver who overheard him.

"Explosives? What are you thinking?" the Octoling asked as Arthur looked back to him.

"Bringing the whole place down. The Terraformer's been started up and it's going to be less than 15 minutes before that virus gets loose" Arthur felt more of his hair coming back and his skin changing back to that of a human, though his skin had rashes on it. He was starting to show signs of the virus.

"Bringing it down? We have some explosives that we left around. Can get a few of the Octarians to set them up" Oliver offered, perfect news.

"Yes, get some of them and get some charges planted on the supports. If we can get them there, we could probably collapse the whole place in one shot. Is there a remote?" Arthur asked as Oliver handed him a little arming trigger.

"I keep this on me at all times just for safety. Arming key goes in here, I'll tell you when we have the charges set" Oliver instructed as Arthur took the trigger and key.

"Once ya get the charges set, get everyone out of here. Oculus wants me not you guys" Oliver would head off taking a few Octarians and a couple of Octolings as Arthur had spoken a bit too much over the mic.

"But Arthur! You'll be left to die!" Octavia protested along with Agents 1 and 2.

"No need to play hero and sacrifice yourself" Agent 2 added though Agent 1 was a bit more cheery.

"But we get to bring the roof down on this party hah! But don't get splat!" Really Agent 1? Ya had to toss a pun in life or death situations? Arthur sighed.

"I know, but I'm not letting this AI win. I'm not letting the mistakes of humanity and their selfishness kill this world. I refuse that. Once the charges are set, you guys get out here too" he was being serious as the other three agreed. They were not wanting to agree with him though. They didn't want to see him die, but the same time he didn't want to see them get hurt cause of his kind's past mistakes.

It was a hard battle as Arthur was slowly turning more and more into a human as he looked nearly to the end of things. He used his bow the best he could, but without the ability to recharge his ink, it was a challenge. He was running out of energy as he heard Octavia's voice over the headset.

"Hey Arthur, Oliver got the last of the charges set. You sure you'll be fine by-"

"Yes I'll be fine, now go! I'll try to buy enough time for you guys to get out of here" Arthur cut Octavia off as he saw that several of the machines had been taken down, except for the first one that Oliver had been piloting. It was trying to go after the retreating parties, those that were splatted and re-spawned made their run out of the mountain so it wasn't many left inside the mountain thankfully.

"OCULUS!" Arthur shouted at the lone machine as it stopped it's chase and looked behind it to see the lone human. Arthur was now a human once more as he could feel his skin and body starting to fail him.

"The Terraformer is nearly at full power you know. You have done nothing to stop the inevitable. This world will be finished and humanity will return. That is what humanity wanted in the end" Oculus slowly approached assuming it had won this 12,000-year struggle it had been going through.

"No, you're wrong Oculus. Preying on the weak, misguiding and nurturing children in the dark. Unaware of what is really going on. No, that's the virus. The plague that killed humanity deep down. The very plague Dr. Adam saw and decided to give this world to a new heir. A new seed of life so they would not carry our sins and our disease. Learning from our mistakes to becoming better. The plague of the past cannot come back. I refuse this!" all the while Arthur was speaking, he was stepping slowly back all the way to the edge of the platform. Behind him was the drop to the churning water with the turbine. And the only way out he had now. He would pull the trigger after he armed the trigger and the explosives went off. Oculus looked at the explosives going off one by one and the platform becoming unstable. The Terraformers main shaft bent and a heavy grind could be heard. The roof was starting to crumble as well. Oculus realized what had happened quite quickly.

"NO!" it was cut short as a rock slammed into the machine crushing it and the platform tilting. The ink helped make things slide and Arthur slid along the way. Following the collapsing pieces of the mountain as he fell a long way and into the water. The water was still churning and he got caught in the flow. Thankfully, he was swept right into the tunnel that they had originally gone through. The mountain would collapse further destroying the Terraformer and the tanks that held the human fetuses. Water rushed out of the tunnels and he was thrown out and carried along the flow. Sadly, he didn't remember much else. Just how cold it felt. The water surrounding him as he was carried down to the river near the mountain. His headset was still on, but he couldn't hear any of the voices on it. His senses were disappearing, slipping into sleep. So cold, enveloped in water as he floated down the river. Was this how death really was?


	8. Chapter 8

Time slipped in and out for Arthur. Was he really dead? Or was he just dreaming as his life was at an end? He couldn't tell as they all blurred. He remembered seeing Bianca, Grace, even some of Bianca's friends, Squid Sisters, even Octavia. He couldn't remember as his mind drifted in and out. Finally, on one sunny day, Arthur finally woke up. Though he was in a hospital bed, propped up as his eyes were returning to him. He felt funny still.

"Arthur? Are you awake this time?" a familiar computerized voice came on. Oracle was sitting on a small table next to the bed as Arthur looked to Oracle. The holographic projector was working and as Arthur started to inspect himself, he realized he was in a hospital.

"Please do not move, it's been three months since we pulled you out of the river after Terraformer Nova was destroyed" Oracle mentioned as Arthur looked at the hologram.

"Three… Three months? What, happened?" he asked this checking his arm to find an IV going into his left arm and his right arm was free with a heart monitor on it. He checked his head, his tentacles were back.

"We brought you back to life. It was difficult but the doctors agreed that the virus is still inside you. Not as strong as before, however still present" Oracle didn't want to say this as Arthur sighed.

"However, we were able to come up with a treatment. Mixing the Mutagen-Beta, the mutagen to make you an inkling, with ink from a donor inkling we can stabilize your body for a certain time. However if the mutagen percentage goes down to much, the body will start to break down again" Oracle finished as Arthur thought it over.

"So you're saying I'm basically going to need daily injections of this stuff to keep me alive?" Arthur had an idea what that answer was going to be.

"Sadly yes. However, we do suspect that over time, your body will develop the immunity to the virus and break it down" Oracle thought about this.

"So basically diabetic for this mutagen, fun… Did the virus..."

"No it did not get out, you destroyed the main systems in time before release" Oracle finished Arthur's question and gave an answer quickly.

"That's a relief..." he looked out to the window as he sighed.

"Take it everyone is busy at the moment?" Arthur asked Oracle seeing it was the only one there.

"Grace is down the hall talking to colleagues as she's taken time off here and there to keep an eye on you. Octavia is back with her people as they're trying to work out peace between the Inklings and Octarians. After what happened at the Terraformer, they realized their hatred was making them easier to manipulate. Thus they're trying to bring peace back between the two races. Bianca is in school though should be making a visit before she goes off with her friends to do turf matches. The Squid sisters, or Agents 1 and 2, are still busy with their lives and fans. At the moment it's just us now. Though seeing it's just us, can I ask a question" Oracle was curious on something as Arthur looked back at Oracle.

"What are you wondering?" Arthur tilted his head as the AI thought.

"The way you acted while in the Terraformer, you mentioned not letting the disease of the past to not come back. What were you meaning? I understand the issues that humanity brought and what the virus brought, but by what you were implying it was philosophical was it not?" Oracle had been wondering this since Arthur said it and he gave a sigh.

"Isolation kills everything. Oculus had no one to talk to or interact with. Except those that it was trying to up bring, the hybrids. You had me. Over time, things change. I don't know how to say it" Arthur gave a sigh as he looked out of the window.

"It's like we're in little tidal pools. We live in these pools for so long, we forget about the bigger ocean we came from originally. When we leave those pools, we have to remember there's a bigger world out there and need to think about the bigger picture, not just the little picture" he finished as Oracle processed.

"Like that one song you had on your phone, one you ported from your old one" Oracle added as Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"You've been through my phone?" Arthur didn't sound too amused. Oracle had a sort of 'guilty' sound to its voice.

"Well, at least there wasn't anything embarrassing on it. It was a Rush song was it?" Oracle was trying to keep up with so much, it was taking time to remember things.

"Natural Science… Yeah, that one" Arthur sighed as he looked out the window. He survived. He made it out of the tidal pool he was in. Though they all lived in their own little tidal pools along the rocky shoreline. Each one chasing out their own destinies. Though living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea. Oculus forgot about the sea, Arthur did not. And for this squid, there was a whole lot of ocean out there.


End file.
